UW Psychiatry enjoyed a strong presence at the 6th annual Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center (NRTRC) conference held earlier this month. New faculty member Jennifer Erickson, DO, and Integrated Care Training Program fellow Sara Haack, MD, spoke about how to incorporate telepsychiatry services into a collaborative care program, referencing the Behavioral Health Integration Program in place throughout UW Medicine. Raman Toor, MD, and Mark Newman, MD, were joined by Brandon Weiland, MSW, Director of Case Management at Capital Medical Center in Olympia, to discuss the implementation of our telepsychiatry services in a community hospital that previously had no access to psychiatry services for their ER patients and medical-surgical inpatients. Both presentations were highly rated among conference attendees, elicited engaging questions after the presentations, and resulted in several follow-up inquiries about our telepsychiatry services.

The NRTRC was established in 2006 and provides educational programs, webinars, advocacy and technical assistance in developing telehealth programs for a seven state region, made up of the WWAMI states (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) plus Oregon and Utah. The NRTRC’s mission is to promote the growth of telehealth programs in the region, and has an Advisory Board comprised of two members from each state. This is the third year that the conference has been held in Seattle, drawing more than 200 health care providers and administrators from throughout the region.