Vital Stats: 3K: Average number of children and adult patients seen at Montefiore Health System’s Family Practice Center and Family Health Center

(Source: Montefiore Health System)

It used to be that when patients suffering from respiratory illness, such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a primary care doctor and nurse would be the only available medical practitioners on hand. In some cases, patients would meet them at the emergency room if their condition worsened.

But as the healthcare industry adopts a proactive method of care following federal health reforms, doctors at Montefiore Medical Center’s Williamsbridge Family Practice Center and Family Health Center will now train psychology fellows and residents to delve deeper into healing respiratory sufferers well before their winding up in the emergency room.

The initiative, deemed an advanced primary care co-training program, was made possible by a $2.5 million federal grant by the Health Resources and Services Administration. Funds will cover the hiring of fellows, instructors’ time, and a data analyst who will assess the program’s effectiveness. Their plan is to train alongside doctors and nurses working at the two centers found in the Wakefield and Fordham sections of the Bronx.

For Dr. Mary Duggan, who’s leading the initiative, integrating in-training psychologists in the treatment of respiratory sufferers further helps identify necessary changes in behavioral or physical surroundings. Some of those deterrents can include “smoking, depression, unsafe or unstable housing” conditions which could aggravate one’s respiratory condition.

Patients will now be offered treatment options that include, “motivational interviewing to promote smoking cessation, medication and treatment adherence, other healthy behavior and lifestyle changes, as well as help provide counseling, and therapy support for possible mental health conditions like depression…addiction, anxiety, family conflict, poor social support.”

But treatment doesn’t stop there. Montefiore already has in place a medical team that creates a unique method of care that’s “delivered in a more strategic way to comprehensively address their COPD, improve chronic long term control of their COPD, prevent or minimize exacerbation frequency and severity,” according to Dr. Duggan.

If Montefiore is successful in its initiative, it could decrease the rate of emergency room visits from respiratory sufferers by 20 percent and hospitalizations by 15 percent by 2021.