Navigating the Clinical Component
The following responsibilities were discussed or referenced during the review:
- Provide comprehensive outpatient psychiatric care, including evaluations, diagnosis, medication management, and ongoing treatment.
- Treat adult and geriatric patients with a variety of psychiatric conditions. Most common are anxiety, depression, add/adhd.
- Collaborate with clinical support staff and the broader healthcare team to ensure coordinated, high-quality patient care.
- Participate in limited inpatient psychiatric consultations and associated call coverage during assigned weeks.
- Schedule – Monday through Thursday 8am-4pm and Friday 8am-12pm.
- Inpatient Coverage: One designated week of coverage per month (Monday–Friday only), averaging 2–5 inpatient consultations during that week. Overnight call includes a 24-hour response window, with no requirement to return to the hospital during the night. No weekend coverage required.
- Current wait time for new patients is 2-3 months.
Patient Population
The program targets patients 18 and older across the full spectrum of adult psychiatry patients. Leadership is committed to accepting medically and socially complex patients who are often difficult to place elsewhere.
Conditions Treated
- Dementia with behavioral disturbances
- Major depression
- Psychosis and bipolar disorder
- Substance use disorders (estimated 20–50% of admitted patients)
- Dual-diagnosis psychiatric conditions
- Neurocognitive disorders with behavioral disturbances
EMR and Documentation Support
The hospital transitioned to Epic in October 2024. Billing is managed in-house by a dedicated coding team that audits documentation and assists physicians with appropriate coding. The physician does not manage billing independently.
Epic's AI documentation tools are available and increasingly used across the medical group. Physicians report significant improvements in note completion and billing accuracy.