FAQs

To support providers across Washington State who are taking care of patients experiencing mental health conditions, including substance use disorders, by providing convenient access to consultation. Increased access to mental health care can lead to earlier diagnosis, improved adherence to evidence-based treatment, and better patient outcomes.

All healthcare providers based in Washington are eligible to call the Psychiatry Consultation Line.

Patients, family and caregivers are NOT eligible to call.

Prescribing providers may call any time, 24/7.

Non-prescribing care providers may call the line between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday (excluding holidays).

You reach the PCL by calling 877-WA-PSYCH (877-927-7924). Prescribing providers may call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Non-prescribing care providers may call between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday (excluding holidays).

Any care provider may also schedule ahead using our online calendar feature.

If those options don’t work for you, you may also email PCLWA@uw.edu to request a scheduled consultation. Please include your name, preferred day/time and a brief description of your question. Please do not include patient identifying information. To assist in your planning, the average consult takes about 15 minutes, including a brief intake with our navigator and time speaking with our psychiatrist.

The PCL email is monitored between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday (excluding holidays).

The PCL phone consultation is covered by HIPAA, section 45 CFR 164.506. However, if you have any questions or concerns about patient privacy and consent, you should consult with your own compliance and privacy experts. It is outside the scope of the PCL to provide legal advice of any kind.

Yes. You can schedule your consultation at a time that is convenient for you in one of two ways:

1. Use our online calendar system and choose from the available days and times.
2. Email pclwa@uw.edu and a navigator will work with you to schedule your consult. Please include your name, preferred day/time and a brief description of your question. Please do not include patient identifying information.
3. Call 877-927-7924 to speak with a navigator who will work with you to schedule your consult.

Assessment, diagnosis and treatment planning, including medication management or other treatments. Our real-life example calls can give you a feel for the breadth and depth of what we have consulted on in the past.

PCL psychiatrists answer mental health and substance use questions about assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning for adult patients, including medication management or other treatments. It may be helpful to know that the PCL psychiatrist may or may not have experience providing psychotherapy.

Examples of in-scope questions the PCL can answer:

• You have a patient on psych meds and wonder if they are working effectively. You want to know if a particular medication can be taken only as needed or if it should be taken on a regularly scheduled basis.
• You are wondering about the impact of substance use on mental health symptoms. For example, your patient continues to have some paranoia even when they abstain from methamphetamines – is that possible?
• You have a patient on psych meds, and you wonder whether a specific symptom could be a side effect. For example, do all antidepressants have sexual side effects?
• You are wondering which symptoms suggest which diagnoses. Perhaps you think a patient has bipolar disorder or you want to know the difference between psychosis and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• You have a question about whether a specific medication can help a patient with a specific diagnosis. For example, do antidepressants work for depression in bipolar disorder, does Wellbutrin help with PTSD?

Examples of out-of-scope questions and roles:

• You need help finding the patient a behavioral health provider or are seeking other referral resources including patient care at UWMC or Harborview.
• You want help with an emergency, and you are not an emergency department provider.
• You want advice or clinical supervision regarding your therapy with a patient, ideas on rapport building or how to get your patient to engage in counseling.
• You have questions about privacy/HIPAA, Duty to Warn laws in Washington, or other medical-legal questions.
• You need assistance satisfying Single Bed Certification requirements.
• You want the PCL psychiatrist to review written records or assist with behavioral care plans.
• You would like us to talk directly to your patient or the family or friends of your patient. The PCL line is available only to health care professionals who are in a provider-patient relationship with the patient.

Yes. Our adult psychiatrists, many of whom are board certified in addiction psychiatry, are able to consult with you about patients with substance use disorders. In 2023, we began offering all PCL psychiatrists additional in medications for opioid use disorders (MOUD) to enhance their skills in consulting about MOUD as well.

Callers will be offered the option to transfer to the Partnership Access Line for child and adolescent psychiatry questions, or to the Perinatal PCL for perinatal psychiatry questions.

If you have never called the line before, the intake is primarily data collection and takes about 3-4 minutes to complete. If you have called the line before, the process will be quicker.

After the intake, callers are connected directly to a psychiatrist about 85% of the time. If a wait is necessary, our navigator will help you connect to the psychiatrist at a future time that is convenient for you. The average callback time varies but is often less than one hour.

The average consultation takes about 15 minutes, but you will get as much time as you need.

When you call 877-WA-PSYCH (877-927-7924), you will reach a UW health navigator for a short intake of information, including: the patient’s name, DOB, gender, city of residence, Medicaid status, and any barriers the patient may face in accessing mental health or substance use disorder services.

The navigator will then facilitate a warm handoff to the UW psychiatrist or schedule a phone call for a date/time in the future. After the consultation, our team will send you written documentation of the recommendations via an email from PCLWA@uw.edu typically within one business day.

In response to feedback from PCL users, we created case presentation format to help you prepare for your consultation and case presentation to the PCL psychiatrist. The outline is meant as a guide to help you get to the heart of the matter quickly, maximize time when you have the psychiatrist on the line, and it mimics what many providers are taught in their formal training about presenting a clinical case for consultation.

As part of the PCL intake, we will collect basic demographic information about the patient before the actual consult begins. Most of the questions are reporting requirements of the Washington State Health Care Authority, the entity which administers the PCL contract. The more information you have about the patient the better, but we will assist you using whatever information you have. See our intake form, case presentation outline and sample case presentations and example calls to learn more.

Yes. Support staff can call us to schedule a consult later in the week and/or to provide intake information. We will keep the intake information in our system for one week at which time it will need to be marked as an incomplete consultation and deleted.

We ask that if the goal of the call is to get specific medication recommendations that the prescriber call us directly since these conversations require a comprehensive knowledge of the patient’s medical history and other risk factors.

Taking notes is not necessary, though you certainly may. After the call, the UW psychiatrist you spoke with will send you a deidentified, written summary of the recommendations via email from PCLWA@uw.edu, typically within 1 business day of your consultation.

There is no limit to how many times you can call the PCL. If you call more than once about the same patient, it is helpful for the navigator to know so we can refer to previous recommendations you may have been given.

The PCL is funded by the State of Washington and administered through the Washington State Health Care Authority.

If your patient is suicidal, homicidal or otherwise at imminent risk, you should call 988, call 911 or refer the patient to their closest emergency room. The PCL is not a crisis or suicide hotline, is not a substitute for an emergency room, and cannot coordinate ER visits, psychiatric hospitalization or law enforcement intervention.

PCL psychiatrists are currently unable to:

• Satisfy Single Bed Certification (SBC) requirements
• Find follow-up care, resources or assist with discharge planning
• Take calls from the patient, family or friends of the patient
• Offer psychotherapy advice
• Review written records
• Provide clinical supervision
• Help with behavioral care plans