Integration of primary care and psychiatry was a hot topic at 2012 Institute on Psychiatric Services

The integration of mental health and primary care continues to be a major topic of interest, especially among community psychiatrists at the recent 2012 Institute on Psychiatric Services, held in NYC last week from October 4-7, 2012.

Dr. Lori Raney, a psychiatrist in Colorado, integrates primary care with psychiatry in multiple settings. She has not only brought psychiatry into the primary care clinic (often thought of as the "traditional" model of integration), she has also brought primary care into a community mental health clinic (sometimes referred to as "reverse integration"). Dr. Raney was a presenter at IPS last week. Read more about her work here.

With this sustained and growing focus on meaningful integration and collaboration between psychiatry and primary care, combined family medicine/psychiatry training is more relevant than ever. Graduates of combined programs are ideally prepared to be leaders in these collaborative care settings.

Dr. Vanessa Lauzon will present at the APA Institute on Psychiatric Services on Oct 7, 2012

One of our co-chiefs, Dr. Vanessa Lauzon, is a presenter at the APA Institute on Psychiatric Services (IPS) meeting this weekend in New York City. IPS is the "APA's leading educational conference on public, community, and clinical psychiatry." This exciting national meeting brings together psychiatrists who are interested in wide-ranging but pragmatic topics such as innovative models of service delivery, integration of mental health with primary care services, and the public health aspects of mental illness and prevention.

Dr. Lauzon will be speaking at a workshop on reducing recidivism of mentally ill individuals in the correctional system. She will be highlighting San Diego's Serial Inebriate Program (SIP), which targets individuals with multiple alcohol-related arrests and 911 calls, and offers them residential substance treatment in lieu of incarceration. Our clinic, the St Vincent de Paul Village Family Health Center, has been the "medical home" for SIP clients since 2004. Our UCSD combined residents are proud to work with SIP clients, most of whom have comorbid medical and psychiatric conditions in addition to alcohol dependence and, usually, a long history of chronic homelessness. Our third-year combined residents do an average of 2-4 new SIP intakes per month, during their outpatient clinic sessions at St Vincent de Paul. The experience of working with these individuals demonstrates the unique value of the physician with combined training.

Read more about SIP, and the role of SVDP and our residents with the program, here.

San Diego's "Top Docs 2012" Include 5 UCSD Combined Alumni

Each year, San Diego Magazine publishes a list of the best physicians in San Diego, as voted on by their peers. The 2012 list is out, and once again we are proud to have several of our alumni on the list! Congratulations to Dr. Dave Folsom, Dr. Roy Samorano, Dr. Katie Hirst, Dr. Gabe Rodarte, and Dr. Kai MacDonald! Their outstanding patient care and the distinctive leadership they each provide at the intersection of family medicine and psychiatry have been recognized by their colleagues.

Our combined residents are also fortunate to work with many UCSD faculty and community physicians who were also recognized as 2012 Top Docs. Drs Dan Slater, Lisa Wastila, Jennifer Wu, Tony Lopez, Lori Brown, Margaret McCahill, and Marianne McKennett all regularly precept or supervise our combined residents in clinic at St. Vincent de Paul. At least 20 other attendings who teach our residents on inpatient, outpatient, and sub-specialty rotations were also named Top Docs.

Congratulations to all the 2012 Top Docs! Our UCSD combined residents feel so lucky to have such talented teachers, mentors, and role models!

See the full list of 2012 Top Docs here.

Dr. David Folsom to present at National Healthcare for the Homeless Council conference in SD

Dr. David Folsom, the training director of the combined program and medical director of our clinic at St. Vincent de Paul, will present at a national conference on Healthcare for the Homeless on Saturday, September 8 in San Diego. Dr. Folsom will be discussing our clinic's experiences as the "medical home" for clients of Project 25, a multi-agency collaboration which has targeted interventions with homeless individuals who are the highest utilizers of medical care in San Diego County. Presenting with Dr. Folsom will be Project 25 director Marc Stevenson, Kris Kuntz, and Marilyn Stenoien of St Vincent de Paul Village.

Project 25, a "housing-first" initiative, has already demonstrated significant savings to the County in its first year of operation. The program was recently honored by the San Diego County Taxpayer's Association with a Public-Private Partnership Award. Our combined family medicine & psychiatry residents have the honor of providing the bulk of the outpatient psychiatric and primary care for Project 25 clients, within our "medical home" model at our clinic. In addition to the satisfaction of serving those in the greatest need, this has provided a great learning opportunity for our residents; they are able to apply the unique skill set of the combined physician to address the severe medical, psychiatric, and substance disorders in a truly integrated fashion. They also gain experience collaborating with patients' case managers, outreach nurses, and others to help provide true wrap-around services and do "whatever it takes" to meet Project 25 clients wherever they are, literally and figuratively.

Find out more about the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council conference here.

August Combo Newsletter is out!

Our August issue of the program newsletter is hot off the presses! Click over to our Newsletter page to check it out. This month: Project 25 success, our program outing to the Padres game, and a glimpse of what "combos" do in our free time.