Frequently Asked Questions

• Call 919-681-2909 ext. 2 Monday through Friday, 8  a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding major holidays. UNC Health Staff can access our staff by sending an inbasket through Epic to P NC MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS [2103001040].
• First-time callers will need to enroll, which can be completed in just a few minutes over the phone or through the website.

The enrollment process is easy and takes just a few minutes. We collect basic contact information, verify that you are an eligible provider, and explain the terms of our services.

• Any health care worker in North Carolina providing services to perinatal patients, including pregnant, postpartum, preconception, and intra-conception individuals. Healthcare workers may include physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, home visitors, birth workers and doulas, residents and students, and behavioral health clinicians.
• Please note that our clinical team will only field questions about medication management with a licensed prescriber.

We are not able to accept calls from patients directly; however, we encourage patients to inform their healthcare team about our services. Find resources for patients and families here.

• When you call NC MATTERS, you’ll speak to a Behavioral Health Coordinator (BHC), who will collect basic information about your patient and the reason for your call. The BHC can help identify and provide appropriate community resources for your patient and can also connect you with a perinatal psychiatry provider for clinical consultation. You will receive a call back from the psychiatry provider within 30 minutes or on a scheduled day/time that works better for you.
• Please note that we do not provide direct patient care, including prescribing to patients or helping them to schedule appointments with mental health care providers.  

• We will ask for the following patient information when you call the line: Patient name, race/ethnicity, date of birth, zip code, insurance, results of any screening tools, and history of previous treatments and outcomes.  
• It’s okay to call us even if you do not have access to all this information, but we can provide better service with as much information as you can provide.

All PHI collected is entered into the patient’s electronic health record (EHR) and is only accessible to the MATTERS clinical team and others on the patient’s care team. De-identified quality improvement (QI) metrics are stored in REDCap following data security guidelines dictated by UNC’s Institutional Review Board. Additional questions can be directed to our Program Manager.

• NC MATTERS is free of cost to both provider and patient through funding from the Health Resources & Services Administration and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. We can serve you regardless of your patient’s insurance coverage, immigration status, or preferred language
• Providers may choose to bill the patient’s insurance in order to receive reimbursement and/or RVUs. See our coding tip sheet here.

You can call with any general or patient-specific questions related to addressing the mental health needs of a perinatal patient. Common questions include:  

• Pregnancy planning for patients with existing psychiatric illnesses 
• Support for pregnancies with genetic complications, perinatal loss, and birth trauma 
• Connecting patients with community resources, including ongoing psychiatric care, therapy, and support groups 
• Learning how to select and interpret screening tools
• Diagnostic clarity
• Initiating or adjusting an antidepressant or another psychotropic medication
• Coping with medication side effects
• Addressing substance use in a patient or co-morbid substance use disorder
• Support in culturally responsive management plants

• The best way to reach our psychiatry providers and receive a timely response is to call the line and connect with the person on call. We cannot respond to queries received via email, direct Epic messages, or other channels. 
• If you have consulted with a provider and want to follow up with them specifically, we can arrange a scheduled consultation based on that provider’s availability.

Learn about our training and technical assistance programs here.

Yes! Downloadable materials are available here. You can also request hard copies by completing this request form.

• Zoloft isn’t working for my patient, what else could I try?  
• What can I prescribe for sleep?
• Can you help me find a therapist with expertise in birth trauma?
• Can you see this patient once? I can’t figure out if she has bipolar, complex PTSD, or something else.
• Could you give me some therapy resources for my Spanish-speaking patient?
• I’ve maxed out on the Celexa dose and my patient is still symptomatic. What should I do?
• Are there therapists close to where my patient lives who take Medicaid and are accepting new patients?