Who can access Ask Masi?
Any care provider looking after a pregnant or postpartum person in the Ontario Health East region can contact Ask Masi and speak to a perinatal mental health specialist. This includes obstetricians, family medicine physicians, midwives, nurse practitioners, public health nurses, and psychiatrists.
At this point in time, only physicians and nurse practitioners can speak with the perinatal psychiatrist.
The perinatal period includes pregnancy and up to one year post-partum (or post-pregnancy loss).
We are trying to make it as easy as possible for you to reach us! You can reach us by phone, text, EPIC chat, or through the Contact Us feature of the website.
Yes, in order for us to ask you specific questions about the patient, and to allow for documentation, billing, and possible community referrals, we need to know that your patient has given consent for you to share their information. We will ask you to verbally confirm this.
We will ask you if your patient has provided consent.
We will ask you some basic questions about your patient, including their pregnancy/post partum status, the results of any screening scores, and the main reason you are calling Ask Masi.
If you are a physician or nurse practitioner who will be speaking to the perinatal psychiatrist, we will need your billing number and some additional details about the patient for the purposes of documentation.
Yes! We will ask for your billing number, and both you and the perinatal psychiatrist can bill this as a phone consult. The billing code for you is: K730
We recommend screening your patient at:
- their first pre-natal visit
- 26-28 weeks of pregnancy
- 6 weeks postpartum
If your patient is high-risk, we recommend additional screening at 2 weeks postpartum.
No, there is no cost for contacting Ask Masi or for the resources we provide.
No, Ask Masi is strictly a provider-facing service.
Our aim is for your call to be answered by a real person, right away. If we happen to be on the phone with someone else, we will return your call immediately.
If it's appropriate for you to speak with a perinatal psychiatrist, our goal is for you to be connected to them within minutes.
In order to facilitate this, please make sure to leave us with the best phone number to reach you at (often a cell phone and not a clinic phone number).
Champlain eConsult BASE is a distinct service from Ask Masi, but the standard maximum response time is 7 days. More information about requesting a perinatal psychiatry e-consultation on this platform can be found here.
No, a key component of the Ask Masi service is that the calling healthcare provider maintains care of their patient and is responsible for any prescribing.
Ask Masi is intended to support you in caring for your patients with mild to moderate illness and for more complex patients while they are waiting to see psychiatry.
Here is a great one-pager with tips for talking to your patient about their mental health.