PsychCoverage – Company Background

PsychCoverage was started in 1995 by Jack and Jill Coughlin, 2 Psychiatric Registered Nurses in San Diego, CA. Jack and Jill began providing weekend coverage to 7 Psychiatrists from Psycare, then a small but growing outpatient Psychiatry Group Practice in San Diego. PsyCare is now one of the largest outpatient practices in San Diego County, and PsychCoverage continues to provide weekend and vacation coverage and triage services to 18 of the Psychiatrists in the practice, including 6 of the 7 original MD’s. We now provide after hours and Mon-Fri coverage for triage, prescription refills and clinical call backs for a growing number of Psychiatrists throughout the state of California.

Bringing a unique psychiatric nursing-based approach to managing after-hours urgent and emergent calls that we refer to as “Brief Care Management”, the RNs of PsychCoverage provide support, crisis management, education and follow up to private practice patients in distress during times when their Psychiatrist is unavailable.

PsychCoverage has evolved into a full time operation that has recently completed the development of Searchlight, the first of its kind web-based platform designed to provide continuity of care through documentation of after-hours psychiatric emergencies and electronic, HIPPA compliant  notification to providers. Using 18 years of experience as a guide, PsychCoverage has developed  policies and procedures which are designed to improve access and to establish standards of care for six distinct call categories that encompass the majority of after hours calls. They include Urgent Prescription Refill requests,  assessment of symptoms and side effects, patient/family education, referral to Medical ER, Emergency Psych hospitalizations and activation of first responders for life threatening emergencies.  The dual mission of PsychCoverage is to substantially improve the quality of after hours patient care and to provide a trusted, reliable and affordable service to Psychiatrists wanting a break from providing 24/7 on call access to their patients.

Why Brief Care Management?

A growing body of evidence shows that telephonic care management  for chronic mental illness as an adjunct to usual care, has a favorable impact on treatment compliance, outcomes and cost. PsychCoverage call data indicates that the overwhelming majority of after-hours clinical calls fit into one or more categories of the Chronic Care Model i.e. safety, education, treatment compliance and care coordination. This has led to an awareness that these usually brief interactions with patients can be seen in an entirely new and innovative way. The safety of patients posing a danger to themselves or others will always be our highest priority, but we have come to realize that we can also have a significant impact on the majority of patients calling in with less emergent concerns.

This much larger group of patients, when seen through the lens of a chronic disease risk stratification, often meet the definition of an acuity 1 or high risk/high priority patient. Typically, they are patients presenting with an unmanaged symptom or side effect which poses a risk to treatment adherence or patient safety, that in the absence of an immediate intervention can lead to an adverse event or an otherwise avoidable ER visit or hospitalization. A rapid response and supportive prn follow up on these calls can make a great deal of difference in both short and long term outcomes as well as patient satisfaction scores. We certainly don’t see our model of after-hours support as a substitute for a fully implemented Care Management program involving proactive outbound calls. It clearly is not. It is, however, an innovative way to engage the most at risk patients at the moment they are most receptive to intervention. A welcome occasion in the world of chronic disease management. In addition to addressing the issue that prompted the call, we view after hours calls as opportunities to have a longer lasting impact by identifying and addressing deficits in mental health literacy, improving treatment adherence through medication teaching and coordinating care with a feedback loop to you as the treating provider for continuity.

In addition to the obvious benefit to your patients, the addition of PsychCoverage services can also enhance the image of your practice and help to support the boundaries you’ve established, while preserving your downtime as a work free zone. The positive feedback you’ll receive from your patients and their family members will give you the confidence you need to fully unwind during your hours of free time, knowing that your patients are in good hands with PsychCoverage.

Turn the Cell Phone Off. We Mean It.

The grind of modern life will wear down even the best of us if we don’t take the time to step back, relax and spend some time on our own self-improvement. Of course, for many psychiatrists, vacation time doesn’t really mean vacation time. Turning off and tuning out for a week simply isn’t an option. Patient’s needs must be met even when you’re on the beach in Cabo sipping out of a pineapple, which can ultimately defeat the whole purpose of taking the vacation in the first place. (more…)