Quality Focus: Gaston Medical Integrates Behavioral Health into Practice Protocol
Gaston Medical Associates, located in the Community Health Partners (CHP) network, has been both a CCPN and a Practice Transformation Network (PTN) participant since March 2016.
The practice had a key interest in Behavioral Health Integration, and this was reinforced after the CHP PTN Coach, Megan Wilson, conducted their baseline PTN practice assessment.
After an initial collaborative meeting that included the practice physician, Dr. Fola Ajao, work began moving forward. Erin Greene, BHI Specialist at Community Care of Southern Piedmont (CCSP) has been working with Gaston Medical Associates for the past several months on BHI in collaboration with Dr. Karen Melendez (Network Psychiatrist for CCSP, CCPGM, CHP), Anne Wheeler (BH Coordinator at CHP) and Megan Wilson (CHP PTN coach).
Gaston Medical Associates is interested in implementing the Collaborative Care Model of integrated care, in an effort to better manage patients with depression. Over the last couple of months they have successfully begun implementing important pieces of the model, including depression care management, and recently started billing the new Medicare G codes for integrated care. Great work and collaboration is taking place in this practice.