Members of the UNC Department of Psychiatry joined with UNC Health teammates from UNC Health Virtual Care Services and UNC Health Caldwell to present findings from an innovative clinical model to address the shortage of psychiatrists in rural North Carolina. Their talk, titled “Expanding Access to Inpatient Psychiatric Care Through Telepsychiatry: A Model for Rural Hospitals” was presented as a General Session on Tuesday 5/20. The session was selected from hundreds of applications to be presented at one of the largest psychiatry conferences in the United States, the American Psychiatry Association’s Annual Meeting.
The program discussed how the collaboration between UNC Health Caldwell, UNC Health Virtual Care Services, and the UNC Department of Psychiatry evolved to provide inpatient psychiatry services at Jonas Hill Hospital in Lenoir, NC, using a 100% virtual model for psychiatrist attending-level management of the 27-bed unit. This innovative model bringing together the expertise of academic psychiatrists to support a community psychiatric hospital in a rural setting was of high interest to the psychiatric community. The collaboration, which started in August 2023, has led to improvements in quality and safety metrics, as well as greater financial success, all while maintaining high staff and patient satisfaction.
Participants in the presentation included Dr. Kenan Penaskovic (Professor and Interim Chair, UNC Department of Psychiatry), Dr. Brian Robbins (Professor, UNC Department of Psychiatry and Medical Director of Jonas Hill Hospital), Beth Hunt (Director, Virtual Care Services Specialty Care, UNC Health), Lisa Donato, RN (Jonas Hill Hospital, UNC Health Caldwell), and Dr. Nate Sowa (Associate Professor, UNC Department of Psychiatry; Interim Medical Director, UNC Health Virtual Care Services).