Collaboration with Your Clinician

Peter ForsterAbout GPS, Best Practices, Self Care, Treatments of Depression

There are a number of things about the clinical practice at Gateway that are a little bit different.  If you have seen another psychiatrist or psychotherapist it might be helpful to read this blog post to orient yourself to those differences and also to see if this is the right place for you to be receiving treatment. We strive to …

Collaboration with Health Professionals

Peter ForsterAbout GPS

After a number of traded phone messages and emails, a psychologist we have been trying to talk to about a mutual patient, sent an email: “Unfortunately, our schedules are a complete mis-match.” Earlier this week we finally managed to talk to a naturopathic physician about another mutual patient, after three weeks of traded phone messages with her secretary. Good communication with …

Medical Records

Peter ForsterAbout GPS, Best Practices

As many of you may know, either as a patient in our clinic or by reviewing the information on our website, we pride ourselves in our comprehensive and thorough assessment process. We use the information gathered during this phase to understand the problems that are bringing someone to see us and to develop an individualized treatment plan based on her/his …

Treatment History Records Retrieval

Kelsey SchraufnagelAbout GPS, Best Practices, Costs of Treatment, General, GPS Update

As many of you may know, either as a patient in our clinic or by reviewing the information on our website, we pride ourselves in our comprehensive and thorough assessment process. We use the information gathered during this phase to understand the problems that are bringing someone to see us and to develop an individualized treatment plan based on her/his …

Pre visit Questionnaire

Peter ForsterAbout GPS, Best Practices

For more than a year we’ve been sending out reminders about future appointments along with a link to a pre-visit survey form. The idea for doing this originally came from new documentation requirements that were embedded in a revision of the standard billing codes for psychiatry a couple of years ago. We realize that the new documentation requirements would take …

Frequency of Visits

Peter ForsterAbout GPS, Best Practices, Costs of Treatment

The frequency of visits to the clinic can be a source of considerable irritation. Why do we recommend that people come in once a week, or once every two weeks, or once a month, or less often? A wonderful young man I have been seeing for several years got very angry when I replied to his request to reschedule his appointment …

Behind the Scenes

Peter ForsterAbout GPS, Testing

A lot of what takes place that makes it possible for us to provide the best patient care is not visible. We spend lots of time reviewing records, participating in case conferences and informal consultation to make sure that nothing gets missed in our assessment and ongoing treatment. I spent the past weekend going over patient records for everyone in …

Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Jobs

Peter ForsterAbout GPS

Psychiatric nurse practitioner jobs are fairly numerous in California, but we think we may have a unique opportunity for the right applicant. This has been a very busy fall at Gateway, we are in the midst of significant expansion in the practice with the result that we are looking to hire another psychiatric and mental health nurse practioner for our …