Andy Schuman MD

Dr. Schuman works as a pediatrician at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic in Nashua, New Hampshire. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and is the Practice Improvement Section Editor for Contemporary Pediatrics.    He has authored more than 200 articles during his 40 year career in pediatric medicine.

There is a mental health crisis in our country that has overwhelmed our healthcare system!

According to the National Alliance on Mental Health:

1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year
1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each year
1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year
50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24
Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-14 

What can we do?

I am starting the Mednexus Mental Health web site to improve access to therapists for  patients with mental health concerns. In addition the site will educate physicians, therapists and patients regarding mental health care. Going forward will post blogs and review mental health applications and services. 

I believe therapists throughout my state of New Hampshire and throughout the country can improve access just by doing one simple thing – converting some one person sessions to group sessions.  This will make counseling more affordable and available, while increasing the per session revenue for therapists.  I would also encourage therapists and prescribers to communicate and collaborate regarding patient management. This can easily be accomplished just by using a HIPAA compliant email service such as Hushmail!

If you are a mental health therapist and would like to expand your availability please fill out our Therapist Contact Form.

While the information I will post hopefully can be used by all, I plan to focus initially on facilitating access to mental health services in my home state of New Hampshire.  If these efforts prove successful,  I will then extend this model to other states as well. 

How can you help?

I cannot do this alone, and would appreciate your help.

I welcome contributions in the form of blogs or videos that will help primary care physicians become more accurate in their diagnoses and  assist with medication management. Likewise I would welcome content from mental health providers (pyschologists, therapists, and life coaches) that will improve the skillsets of providers.  Useful advice for patients is always welcome. Please stay tuned!