SOUTHCARE OF NC

A provider who is trained and educated in the performance of behavior health services through interpersonal communications and analysis. Training and education at the specialty level usually requires a master's degree and clinical experience and supervision for licensure or certification.

Psychosomatic Medicine is subspecialty in the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders and symptoms in complex medically ill patients. This subspecialty includes treatment of patients with acute or chronic medical, neurological, obstetrical or surgical illness in which psychiatric illness is affecting their medical care and/or quality of life such as HIV infection, organ transplantation, heart disease, renal failure, cancer, stroke, traumatic brain injury, high-risk pregnancy and COPD, among others. Patients also may be those who have a psychiatric disorder that is the direct consequence of a primary medical condition, or a somatoform disorder or psychological factors affecting a general medical condition. Psychiatrists specializing in Psychosomatic Medicine provide consultation-liaison services in general medical hospitals, attend on medical psychiatry inpatient units, and provide collaborative care in primary care and other outpatient settings.

A social worker who holds a master's or doctoral degree in social work from an accredited school of social work in addition to at least two years of post-master's supervised experience in a clinical setting. The social worker must be licensed, certified, or registered at the clinical level in the jurisdiction of practice. A clinical social worker provides direct services, including interventions focused on interpersonal interactions, intrapsychic dynamics, and life management issues. Clinical social work services are based on bio-psychosocial perspectives. Services consist of assessment, diagnosis, treatment (including psychotherapy and counseling), client-centered advocacy, consultation, evaluation, and prevention of mental illness, emotional, or behavioral disturbances.

A Psychiatrist specializes in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders, emotional disorders, psychotic disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance-related disorders, sexual and gender identity disorders and adjustment disorders. Biologic, psychological, and social components of illnesses are explored and understood in treatment of the whole person. Tools used may include diagnostic laboratory tests, prescribed medications, evaluation and treatment of psychological and interpersonal problems with individuals and families, and intervention for coping with stress, crises, and other problems.

Addiction Psychiatry is a subspecialty of psychiatry that focuses on evaluation and treatment of individuals with alcohol, drug, or other substance-related disorders, and of individuals with dual diagnosis of substance-related and other psychiatric disorders.

A Psychiatrist or Neurologist who practices Sleep Medicine is certified in the subspecialty of sleep medicine and specializes in the clinical assessment, physiologic testing, diagnosis, management and prevention of sleep and circadian rhythm disorders. Sleep specialists treat patients of any age and use multidisciplinary approaches. Disorders managed by sleep specialists include, but are not limited to, sleep related breathing disorders, insomnia, hypersomnias, circadian rhythm sleep disorders, parasomnias and sleep related movement disorders.

Geriatric Psychiatry is a subspecialty with psychiatric expertise in prevention, evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders in the elderly, and improvement of psychiatric care for healthy and ill elderly patients.

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry is a subspecialty of psychiatry with additional skills and training in the diagnosis and treatment of developmental, behavioral, emotional, and mental disorders of childhood and adolescence.

Vascular Neurology is a subspecialty in the evaluation, prevention, treatment and recovery from vascular diseases of the nervous system. This subspecialty includes the diagnosis and treatment of vascular events of arterial or venous origin from a large number of causes that affect the brain or spinal cord such as ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, spinal cord ischemia and spinal cord hemorrhage.

Source: NUCC, CMS