FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2023
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY PSYCHIATRISTS AND STATIONMD TO DEVELOP PSYCHIATRIC CARE CURRICULUM FOR TREATING INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
Curriculum will help train doctors on best psychiatry practices for disabilities population to improve their quality of healthcare
[Maplewood, N.J.]— StationMD, a telehealth company dedicated to serving individuals with intellectual and/or development disabilities (I/DD), today announces a collaboration with child psychiatrists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to improve best practices and establish a curriculum that will be used to train doctors on how best to deliver psychiatric care to individuals with I/DD, which includes people with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other I/DDs.
Up to 80% of people with I/DD have a psychiatric comorbid conditions (1). Recognizing a nationwide shortage of practitioners who are trained in the nuances of I/DDs, StationMD will collaborate with child psychiatrists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis for the next year to generate data points and quality metrics that indicate clinical best practices in psychiatric care for children and adults with I/DD. The data and metrics will be translated into a curriculum that will be used to train doctors, so they may elevate the quality of psychiatric care provided to people with I/DD.
“Psychiatric illness often goes hand-in-hand with I/DD, yet our healthcare system is not equipped to address this. In collaboration with child psychiatrists at Washington University, we can start to make incremental change by improving physician knowledge on this front. By doing so, we’ll be able to offer more people with I/DD a level of care they’ve never been able to receive,” said Dr. Deven Unadkat, StationMD cofounder and chief medical officer. “Elevating the quality of psychiatric care among individuals with I/DD is critical if we want to truly realize health equity and foster independence and community living among this population.”
StationMD provides behavioral health, primary care, and 24/7 urgent care services via telemedicine to nearly 30,000 individuals with I/DD across 21 states. All StationMD clinicians are board-certified and specially trained to treat individuals with I/DD. StationMD was established in 2016 by four emergency doctors who were motivated to help individuals with I/DD connect easier and faster to doctors who understand their medical complexities. StationMD’s telemedicine service reduces emergency room or urgent care visits by up to 90 percent among its patient population. This helps the individual and their caregivers eliminate hurdles like transportation and mobility issues, long waits at the emergency room, unnecessary hospital admission, polypharmacy issues, and the costs associated.
To learn more about StationMD, please visit www.StationMD.com.
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About StationMD
StationMD is a telehealth company dedicated to serving individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD). All StationMD clinicians are board-certified and specially trained to treat individuals with I/DD. Clinicians are available 24/7 via telemedicine for urgent and non-urgent medical matters. StationMD also offers scheduled psychiatry and primary care telemedicine to individuals with I/DD. In providing this suite of services, StationMD enables individuals with I/DD faster access to high-quality care and substantially reduces unnecessary medical costs.
About Deven Unadkat DO, MPA, FACEP, President & Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Unadkat is a board-certified emergency physician, recognized physician leader, and a founding partner at StationMD. After graduating medical school and completing his graduate studies in healthcare administration and policy at New York University, he completed his residency at Northwell Health where he served as chief resident. He has held numerous academic positions throughout his career and has served as assistant residency director for the emergency medicine training program at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He has practiced clinically over the past 18 years in large academic centers, community hospitals, free standing emergency centers, and has been delivering care via telehealth. He has served as chairman and medical director of emergency medicine at a one of the largest academic trauma centers in New Jersey. Throughout his clinical career, Dr. Unadkat has focused on improving access to high quality medical care to vulnerable populations. As chief medical officer at StationMD, Dr. Unadkat, supervises a team of physicians and allied health professionals. He oversees clinical operations, education, clinical quality improvement, and development and growth of our clinical services.
Tural Hesapcioglu S, Ceylan MF, Kasak M, Yavas CP. Psychiatric comorbidities of mild intellectual disability in children and adolescents in a clinical setting. Int J Dev Disabil. 2019 Jul 9;67(2):151-157. doi: 10.1080/20473869.2019.1634935. PMID: 34141408; PMCID: PMC8115543.