Your clinical interview is data: The benefit of telehealth appointments to triage referrals made to pediatric neuropsychology

Abstract

Objective: We conducted a project to manage a high volume of referrals to pediatric neuropsychology. We aimed to manage referrals for children and adolescents without known medical risk factors. We proposed that a clinical neurodevelopmental interview conducted via telehealth would reduce the number of patients on the waitlist and identify those who do not need neuropsychological evaluation. Method: We conducted clinical neurodevelopmental interviews via telehealth to assess patients’ need and urgency for neuropsychological testing. These patients had no or unclear risk factors and non-specific concerns with learning, attention, and/or behavior. We monitored our waitlist over a 2-year period to determine if this service could reduce our waitlist. We measured the time to initial consultation before and after this new service. We surveyed referring providers to assess their satisfaction of this service. Results: Using this new triage consultation service, we found that 1 in 4 children did not require a neuropsychological evaluation. This reduced our waitlist by about 5 months, even while we had an increase in referrals during the same period. After implementation, patients were seen for consultation within a month of the referral. Referring providers were generally satisfied with this service. Conclusions: Implementing telehealth clinical interviews was effective in triaging healthy children with non-specific learning, attention, and/or behavior concerns. This new service effectively reduced our waitlist and offered quick access to neuropsychological consultation and recommendations. Referring providers appreciated efforts to increase access to pediatric neuropsychology services for those who were anticipated to benefit the most from such services.