Medical Director of Outpatient Psychiatry

Wellstar Health System • Marietta, GA

48d • Hybrid

About The Position

Wellstar Health System, a member of the Mayo Clinic Network and the largest health system in Georgia, is seeking a Medical Director of Outpatient Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. This role functions as a clinical and administrative leader responsible for developing and providing C-L psychiatry services to expand access to needed services for patients receiving care in primary care, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, cancer, and other medical specialties. The aims of this integrated care model are to improve access to expedient and quality psychiatric care, improve clinical outcomes and patient experience through biopsychosocial care, reduce clinical burden on physicians in primary care and various medical specialties, and provide cost-effective care by reducing unnecessary healthcare utilization. The Medical Director will oversee all medical aspects of integrated behavioral health programs, including direct oversight of other psychiatrists and advance practice professionals, ensuring evidence-based medicine is employed. This role involves collaboration with other clinical directors, establishing effective relationships with non-psychiatry physician colleagues, and functioning as a core member of the Behavioral Health Service Line’s leadership team. The Medical Director will develop processes and workflows for time-limited medication management and physician-to-physician consultations, partnering with other psychiatry medical directors to ensure seamless care coordination.

Requirements

• Holds a MD/DO degree
• Is a licensed psychiatrist
• Minimum of 3 years post-residency experience
• Board-certification in general psychiatry

Responsibilities

• Develop and provide C-L psychiatry services to expand access to needed services for patients receiving services in primary care, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, cancer, and other medical specialties.
• Oversee all medical aspects of integrated behavioral health programs, including direct oversight of other psychiatrists and advance practice professionals.
• Ensure that evidence-based medicine is employed to manage psychiatric symptoms that can be treated effectively in primary care and specialty settings.
• Work as a collaborator with other clinical directors to establish and fulfill program aims.
• Develop effective relationships with non-psychiatry physician colleagues and function as a core member of the Behavioral Health Service Line’s leadership team.
• Develop processes and workflows to provide time-limited medication management and physician-to-physician (curbside and e-consult) services to support patients receiving care within WMG primary and specialty care clinics.
• Partner closely with Wellstar’s other psychiatry medical directors to establish seamless and coordinated care across the continuum to optimize patient safety and clinical outcomes.
• Provide initial psychiatric evaluations and treatments (in-person or virtually) for patients referred from primary care and other medical specialties.
• Gather clinical information via multi-source data, including psychiatric interviews, collateral interviews, screening tools, labs and imaging, and consultations with other members of the healthcare team.
• Render diagnoses to drive evidence-based treatment decisions.
• Develop, monitor, and modify treatment plans as needed in collaboration with other members of the healthcare team.
• Provide medication management and/or behavioral interventions as appropriate to meet patient’s needs.
• Provide routine and ad-hoc and e-consultations to adult primary care and specialty care physicians, consulting on recommended medication protocols to facilitate psychiatric symptom remission.
• Lead/Participate in regular interdisciplinary team meetings/huddles.
• Lead case reviews and consultations with the interdisciplinary healthcare team.
• Provide education and training to adult primary care providers, specialists, and other healthcare professionals.
• Document all patient care activities using Epic, Wellstar’s electronic health record.
• Participate in quality improvement activities, including data collection, analysis, and reporting.
• Work as a clinical dyad with psychology directors through the Behavioral Medicine division.
• Meet with Behavioral Health Service Line leaders to develop and ensure fidelity to processes that improve patient flow, optimize patient access, and improve patient and provider satisfaction.
• Collaborate with WMG operational leaders to accomplish program aims.
• Build effective relationships with clinical leads/medical directors in other service lines.
• Give presentations at Lunch & Learns and other didactic forums for physicians and APPs regarding first-line treatments for various psychiatric illnesses.
• Work effectively with WMG practice managers and operational leaders.
• Develop tactics to support the well-being of direct reports.
• Provide mentorship to psychiatrists and advanced practice providers.
• Hold crucial conversations with team members with performance improvement opportunity.
• Design effective workflows to support integrated psychiatric care for the Wellstar Medical Group.
• In concert with other clinical directors and Epic leadership, develop patient registries to help manage the care of patients with psychiatric illnesses within a primary care setting.
• Work with WMG clinical and operational leaders to plan fiscal year scaling of consultation-liaison psychiatry services to adult and specialty care practices across all Wellstar submarkets.
• Establish service utilization goals.
• Establish goals to measure and improve clinical outcomes.
• Establish annual performance goals related to quality and safety.
• Establish annual productivity goals for outpatient consultation-liaison psychiatry providers.
• Disseminate performance updates to BH Service Line leaders at a monthly cadence (or as requested by BH Service Line Chief and/or AVP of WMG/BH Service Line).
• Meet regularly with Wellstar’s Chief Behavioral Health Officer to discuss program performance.
• Lead recruitment efforts for outpatient consultation-liaison psychiatrists and APPs, attracting the top talent and positioning the program for long-term success and brand recognition.
• Meet regularly (at least monthly) with the Behavioral Health leadership team to establish annual quality and performance goals that raises the standard of behavioral health care in greater Atlanta.
• Establish population parameters to define scope of patients appropriate for referral to the consultation-liaison psychiatry service.
• Establish clear and measurable programmatic aims.
• Monitor clinical outcomes.
• Monitor annual performance goals related to quality and safety.
• Monitor annual productivity goals for outpatient consultation-liaison psychiatry clinicians.
• Identify and remove barriers to patient access.
• Optimize processes and workflows to improve efficiency in Epic.
• Develop and standardize protocols and clinical workflows in effort to reduce practice variation.
• Lead regular meetings with outpatient consultation-liaison psychiatry team.
• Participate consistently in the WMG BH Clinical Leadership development forum.
• Serve as a BH Service Line cabinet member with voting eligibilities.
• Attend all Behavioral Health Service Line cabinet meetings.
• Present program updates at Behavioral Health Service Line cabinet meetings.
• Participate, as needed, on Primary Care and other Service Line cabinets.
• Make recommendations to CBHO and WMG senior leadership (e.g., SVP, Medical Group) regarding strategic growth opportunities, innovative technologies to enhance, PCBHI, etc.
• Sit on Wellstar’s Service Line quality committee.

Benefits

• Support of a practice manager and other resources to support scheduling needs, staffing, supplies ordering, and other day-to-day operational needs.
• Provision and furnishing of office space sufficient to deliver clinical care.
• Access to technology needed to leverage care virtually.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree