Monday, February 6, 2012

Montana's New Psychiatric Consultation Service

NAMI Montana is always on the lookout for new methods of increasing the access to high quality psychiatric care, especially to our rural communities. One new program seeks to meet this goal by providing medical providers with the ability to receive a consultation from a psychiatrist.

The materials below are all provided by AWARE. We are providing them for informational purposes only. Please let us know of any other programs that you'd like us to feature.

Thanks,

matt


PSYCHIATRIC EDUCATIONAL CONSULTATION SERVICES

Many healthcare providers living in rural areas often treat patients with a mental illness due to patients not being able to access psychiatry because of where they live. Questions come up for those providers when treating some patients with a serious disabling mental illness (SDMI) and since psychiatry is not their specialty, it may be more of a challenge to treat a patient. Through supports provided by DPHHS, AMDD Division, AWARE, Inc. is working to bring psychiatric consultation educational services to providers in need. The services provided are educational in nature and are intended to provide psychiatric educational supports to treating Physician’s, PA’s, APRN’s, healthcare facilities, nursing care facilities and detention facilities. No doctor patient relationship is intended nor implicitly created. The relationship is between the treating provider and the Psychiatrist and is designed to increase the capacity of the treating physician to serve those with an SDMI in their community over time.

AWARE PSYCHIATRISTS

· Dr. Len Lantz; Dr. Krista David; Dr. Tom Hoffman; Dr. Lynn Mousel; Dr. Celeste Pfister; Dr. Alan Reyes; Dr. John Tupper

SERVICES

· This is a service provided by AWARE Inc. Psychiatrists, to Physician’s, Physician Assistant’s, APRN’s, healthcare facilities, nursing care facilities, and detention facilities

seeking educational information regarding an individual that qualifies as an Adult with a Severely Disabling Mental Illness (SDMI)

· Education provided by the psychiatrists is solely based on the premise of the information being sought after by the primary caregiver, is a general question from a provider, not geared toward a specific patient.

· Grand Rounds Style based

· The system for providers to request this service may be accessed by either email or phone

HOW DOES IT WORK

· Service availability, Monday thru Friday, 8am-5pm, regular office hours

· Initial email/phone call made by provider to request a psychiatrist call back–

Email: DocTalk@aware-inc.org

or phone: (406)449-3120 REQUEST THE “DOCTALK LINE

· Request YOUR need and your own availability to schedule a call back time from a psychiatrist within the Monday thru Friday, 8am-5pm office hours

· Calls can range from several minutes, up to an hour for more complexity

*** An AWARE rep is available to travel to your site/community to discuss individualized needs that your community may have regarding this service

Please Contact: Dawn Ann Peterson, Practice Manager At 406-560-2527, or email dpeterson@aware-inc.org

FUTURE POTENTIAL

This educational service is seen as a potential stepping stone towards bringing telepsychiatry services to rural communities that may include direct patient care. Services may also be an opportunity for long-term patient care through telepsychiatry from AWARE doctors, in conjunction with the patient’s primary caregiver.