InSight Telepsychiatry Presents First Annual Partner Awards

PHILADELPHIA, PA – InSight Telepsychiatry, the leading national telepsychiatry provider organization, is excited to recognize their outstanding partners through their first ever partner awards: Telepsychiatry Program of the Year and the Partner Champion Award.

These annual awards recognize programs and individuals who are advocates of telepsychiatry not only in their organizations, but also within their communities. Telepsychiatry Program of the Year recognizes a partner organization, while the Partner Champion Award recognizes an individual at a partner site.

Telepsychiatry Program of the Year was awarded to MultiCare Health System, while Partner Champion was posthumously awarded to Audrey Burger of Community Counseling Center.

MultiCare health community in Washington State

MultiCare, the largest community based health system in Washington State, is based in Tacoma, Washington with additional locations throughout the Puget Sound and Inland Northwest regions. InSight recognizes the consistent reliability and professionalism they have brought to the partnership. Additionally, they are strong advocates of telehealth in their respective communities.

MultiCare’s Behavioral Health programs serve a diverse population across a range of settings and locations including emergency departments, inpatient units and outpatient clinics. In addition to increasing access, telepsychiatry has offered their patients greater continuity of care and an increased range of mental health services. Currently, telepsychiatry is offered system wide at six of their hospitals in the Puget Sound and Inland Northwest regions. Through telepsychiatry, they are able to treat over 100 individuals each month and have approximately 1400 encounters per year. Expanding telepsychiatry to outpatient family practice clinics is currently under consideration so they may address the growing behavioral health needs of all individuals.

Other nominees were: Winona Health (Minnesota), Mission Health (North Carolina), Family Counseling Center (Missouri), Resources for Human Development (Delaware) and BayCare Behavioral Health (Florida).

Community Counseling Center in Missouri

Audrey Burger, Clinical Operations Director of Community Counseling Center in Missouri, is the recipient of the Telepsychiatry Champion award. Sadly, Audrey passed away in October 2017 after a battle with cancer. InSight appreciated all that Audrey did to advocate for telehealth in rural areas; she was always looking for ways to use services in other settings in order to make the program stronger and allow people in her community more access to mental health care. She was a selfless individual who cared deeply for others and was a joy to work with.

Community Counseling Center serves a variety of settings and locations across Missouri and brings care to those who need it most. With telepsychiatry, they are able to provide services to individuals who may not have access to care otherwise due to long travel times and a lack of mental health providers. They serve approximately 7000 individuals, many via telepsychiatry.

Other nominees were: John Rislove (Co-Director of Inpatient Services – Winona Health, Minnesota), Craig Hedley (Director of Community Partnerships – St. Joseph’s Villa, Virginia), Jess Fenchel (Vice President of Adult Behavioral Health – Access Services, Pennsylvania), Susan Wright (Director of Behavioral Health Operations – BayCare Behavioral Health, Florida) and Eric Arzubi (Chairman of Psychiatry Clinic – Billings Clinic, Montana).

Representatives from MultiCare and Community Counseling Center will be attending the OPEN MINDS Technology & Informatics Institute in Philadelphia from October 22-24 and will receive their awards during an InSight hosted event on the evening of October 23.