Greetings Residents and Families,
Birchwood Cottages’ mission is to serve those living with memory loss in an environment filled with compassion and purpose. In keeping with that mission, Birchwood Cottages is partnering with Behavioral Care Solutions (BCS) to offer psychiatric and psychosocial services for all residents via their Telemental Health Program.
In conjunction with Birchwood’s existing primary care services, BCS will offer psychiatric assessment and medication management services to assist with anxiety, depression, cognitive disruption and other adverse symptoms. These services allow for appropriate medical planning, therapeutic intervention, and objective assessment of medication effectiveness.
There are 6 major components to the Behavioral Care Solutions Telemental Health Program:
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Psychiatric Evaluations: A complete historical and diagnostic initial evaluation by a psychiatrist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant.
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Medication Management: The clinician evaluates the resident regarding medication effectiveness, symptom remediation, medical problems, and side effects, allowing them to determine whether resident medications need to be changed, stopped or titrated.
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Specialty Consultations: Specialty services can be provided for second opinions, competency evaluations, behavioral management meeting participation, and neurobehavioral evaluation.
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Emergency Evaluations: Acute care assessment and evaluation/certification for in-patient care using telehealth services would be available to greatly improve emergency response time.
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Family Involvement in Resident Care: Family members can participate in telehealth videoconferencing or counseling sessions to support the resident and be involved in the resident's treatment.
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Supportive Therapy: When necessary, the clinician can provide regular supportive psychotherapeutic intervention to enhance psychiatric care and improve outcomes.
In Telemental Health, all practitioner visits are done remotely over video chat on a tablet device. This allows residents to meet with providers in the comfort and privacy of their own room, with Birchwood staff on standby to assist as needed. Families are also welcome to participate during the appointment
Please let us know if you have any questions throughout this process. You can also learn more about Behavioral Care Solutions at their website or send questions to info@bcsgps.com
Birchwood Cottages nursing department will be reaching out to those who may benefit from this service over the next few days with information specific to the resident. If interested and would like to have a conversation, simply reply email, call, or stop in and talk to us to get started!
~ Andrea Rupe, Vice President of Business Operations
507.594.8276 | andrear@birchwoodcottagesmn.com
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