Feedback Informs Changes At Aspen Institute

A lot of changes are occurring at the Institute. We had some new team members join us, changes in our assessment process have been implemented, and we have revised our tuition rates. Many of these changes are directly the result of candid and direct feedback we have received from you all and a result of our looking at our model to make it more user friendly for families and referral sources looking for the gift of an accurate diagnosis for their adolescent.

First, we had two new psychiatrists recently join us. Dr. Cheronne Anderson and Dr. Mary Burris. Both of these physicians are child and adolescent psychiatrists who bring a wealth of knowledge here to help us work with the psychiatric needs of our residents. They each have experience with our type of population and "get" what it means to communicate with private pay families and referral sources. Dr. Anderson is originally from Detroit, MI, and did her graduate work at UC, Davis. Dr. Burris is from Reno, NV, and completed her Fellowship in 2009 as the Chief Resident at the University of Utah. These two new additions to our team supplement the great work of our existing medical/psychiatric team with Dr. Kristin Shadow as medical director, Dr. Rich Davidson, psychiatrist; and Rebecca Wallace, Family Nurse Practitioner.

Second, as you might know when we began exploring the assessment process we would complete our evaluations in an average of six weeks. We are continuing to do a six week assessment, but also wanted to add a new therapeutic option. We started doing two to four week assessments to help those kids that are already in treatment at a program, but need a short-term stabilization at a higher level of care. The goal of our shorter two and four week options is to provide a place to re-assess, stabilize, and get that child back to the program of origination as soon as possible. I have often heard consultants and programs say to me that they have a child who is escalating, but they do not know what to do. Or you need a hospitalization, but cannot do anything about it because the local hospital is full. Now, we can be an option for a shorter stay experience where we are consulting with you, the program, and the family within in a safe continuum of care.

Further changes with our assessment process have centered on our final written report, or Multi-disciplinary Report (MDR). Numerous educational consultants have said to me they need clinical data prior to discharge and can't or don't want to wait for the final report. Up to this point, we have been sharing the data as we receive it but send the final report out well after the child has discharged. This practice has not set well with some referring professionals or receiving programs as they are interested in the full details sooner rather than later. To balance these requests and meet a higher expectation, we have improved this practice by sending out a report approximately two weeks prior to discharge. In this informal report ('Pre-MDR') we will include an executive summary detailing the initial psychiatric evaluation with current medications, the psychological evaluation report, and the therapeutic response to date. I hope this enhanced practice of better communication will help consultants and families see the value we provide at the Institute in giving an accurate, timely and thorough diagnosis.

Finally, we are exploring some options with a need-based scholarship system to help out parents. Currently our daily private pay rate is $600 per day. We are going to work more closely with parents and consultants on meeting the needs of the family to help them in their time of crisis. With that being said, we are also going to reduce the daily rate after the child stabilizes from the acute phase of treatment and when all psychological assessments are complete. The beginning of the assessment process is where the highest levels of acuity are seen and services utilized. As the resident transitions from the acute crisis stage to a lower level of acuity, we can then step the tuition rate down to a "residential" rate to meet the acuity needs of the child. Please give me a call for details.

At Aspen Institute, we believe in the process of change and flexibility and want to further meet your needs and high expectations in order to better treat and assess the needs of vulnerable kids. For more information, call Russ Pryor at 877-808-3088, or visit www.aspenassessment.com.