SENIOR

PROJECT STEP 2 OUTLINE

I.

Context
a) Mission of Agency and Programs Offered
i. Geisingers whole cooperation mission: It is our mission to enhance quality of life
through an integrated health service organization based on a balanced program
of patient care, education, research and community service
(http://www.geisinger.org/pages/about-geisinger/index.html)
ii. Geisingers IPC clinics mission: (1) provide high-quality, evidence-based practice
in primary care (PC); (2) partner with PCPs and improve their care of behavioral
health concerns; (3) invest in trainees committed to primary behavioral care
health and prepare them well for independent practice; (4) construct program
evaluation and research on PCBH and disseminate results; (5) expand our
program to offer care to patients/care across the system
iii. Programs offered:
1. Evidence-based assessment and intervention
2. Crisis evaluations
3. Treatment and Support Groups for children struggling with emotional,
behavioral, and social difficulties
a. ADHD parent and child group (ages 6-11)
b. Preschool development and behavior child and parent group (ages
3-5)
c.

High school family conflict and relationship group (grades 9-12)

d. Health lifestyle/weight management youth and parent group (ages

9-18)

e. Disruptive Behavior Clinic (ages 6-11)

f.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Adolescent Group

4. Individual psychotherapy, family therapy, psychological evaluations

5. Short term, targeted behavioral change (4) 60 minute slots, followed by
30 minute slots if needed
b) Population served (socioeconomic group, ethnicity, age, race, etc.)
i. Surrounding area of Bloomsburg, generally within less than 20 minutes drive
ii. Children and adolescents up to age 18; accompanying parents and families come
with them for evals
iii. Its normally middle-income Caucasian families
c) Funding source, relevant history including social work history, strengths and
challenges to service delivery, regulatory standards (what happens when the agency
is cited for non-compliance and who oversees this?)
i. Funding source: Comes from Geisinger Health Plan Innovation (2 sites), and one
private donor (1 site) to start up the pilot clinics they planned to fade financial
support over three year span and establish sustainable clinics; The profits are
generated solely by billable hours
ii. Relevant history (if any history relevant to social work): 3 pilot clinics staffed by 1
psychologist and 1-2 psychology fellows; this was funded by GHP Innovation and
private donors to get pilot going; theres honestly not any relevant history to
social work involved in the IPC clinics I looked really hard L
iii. Strengths and challenges to service delivery: a big issue the clinics see regards the
language barrier between psychologists and Spanish-speaking clients; Another
challenge would be not being able to receive referrals from outside the clinic,

because Im sure a lot of people in the area could benefit from the services, but
since only PCPs can refer them this causes some difficulty; Some strengths though
include an integrated care model which incorporates clinicians to collaborate
with the psychologists to determine intervention and treatment for the clients
iv. Regulatory standards on non-compliance: when a compliance concern is raised,
you go directly to the Chief Compliance Officer or call the Corporate Compliance
Hotline and the Corporate Compliance Coordinating Committee oversees the
issue
(http://infoweb.geisinger.edu/ghs_manuals/corporate_compliance/owner/ghs_c
c_01_400.html)
d) Aspects of program evaluation including how success is determined and measured
i. Overall they evaluated patient satisfaction, PCP satisfaction, financial data,
physician comfort, quality of care, etc. during the pilot of the clinics
ii. My program evaluation of ACT for adolescents will be determined on the
outcomes measures that I receive pre-group and post-group
II.

Social Policies
a) Describe policies related to delivery of service. Specifically report how these policies
affect the role of social work and clients.
i. Referrals to the clinics can only be done by the Primary Care Providers (PCPs), no
outside sources or other clinics
ii. In the state of Pennsylvania, you must at least receive verbal confirmation from
both parents in order to proceed to care to the child. But, Ive seen instances
where the one parent is separated and no longer has contact with the other
parent and things can get tricky. This most definitely impacts the service delivery

to the child.
III.

Research
a) How is EBP (Evidence Based Practice) used within the agency?
i. They ONLY use interventions that are proven to work. Theyre only using EBP,
and in initial consults, they inform the clients of that. They say, What we do here
is short-term, evidence-based interventions that are proven to work.
b) How will you consider using EBP to evaluate your client, client system or program?
i. My whole senior project is using EBP. ACT has been proven to work in adults, but
still does not have that much to support for its efficacy with adolescents. There
have been few studies done to prove that it is effective with adolescents, but my
project findings will hopefully show that ACT is a good intervention to use for
teens suffering from anxiety or depression.
c) Will research, theories or EBP hinder or help you when assessing your client, client
system or program?
i. I strongly believe that EBP will help me when assessing the ACT program.