We are excited to share our Winter issue of In Touch!  We invite you to read about Nehemiah’s success since coming to Woods, high-tech help in education for students with autism, an overview of the book we wrote about Woods’ transformation, and outpatient healthcare services now available for the community. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

TUFH & Woods Services Symposium

November 9, 2023

7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Speaker:  Sailaja Musunuri, M.D., Chief of Psychiatry and Executive Vice President of Integrative Medicine at Woods

Register Here

Across the globe, there are 200 million people with intellectual disability and 75 million with autism, many whom experience significant barriers to care and health disparities.  In addition, many people with intellectual disability and autism also have other co-occurring conditions, including mental health diagnoses and other chronic conditions, which further complicate their health status.  Thus, the symposium will outline the need for integrated health services to improve health outcomes for these populations, the barriers to accessing care, the need to expand the healthcare workforce, and an example of an integrated care service delivery model implemented by Woods System of Care in the United States, which can be replicated through partnerships elsewhere in the world.

Dr. Sailaja Musunuri is an experienced and compassionate physician and psychiatrist (double Board Certified in Adult, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), providing high-quality medical and psychiatric care with diverse clinical operations and academic experience. In her role as Chief of Psychiatry and Executive Vice President of Integrative Medicine at Woods Services, headquartered in Pennsylvania, U.S., she is an accomplished team leader who has consistently delivered results in numerous clinical settings for over 18 years, including experience working with children and adults with intellectual disability, autism, and co-occurring psychiatric disorders and other complex conditions.  Dr. Musunuri serves as Academic Faculty Advisor at Woods for interns and fellows from area health profession schools and is responsible for developing partnerships with academic institutions and health systems to enhance services at Woods and train the next generation of providers.

Dr. Musunuri’s professional training includes receiving her M.D. from Siddhartha Medical College/Nagarjuna University, Vijayawada, India, completing her internship in Psychiatry at Medwin Hospital, Hyderabad, India and residencies in Adult and Child/Adolescent Psychiatry respectively at SIU School of Medicine, Springfield, IL, U.S., and Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.  Dr. Musunuri is considered the premier leader in psychiatry in the U.S. for people with intellectual disability and complex psychiatric and other chronic conditions, is a leader in integrated care, and a leader in training the next generation of practitioners who are desperately needed to address the health disparities of this vulnerable and complicated population.

Register Here

Outcomes for Participants:

• Learn about the global need for integrated health services for people with ID and autism, as well as for people who have mental health challenges.
• Be able to identify the common barriers to accessing care, including stigma related to disability and mental health challenges and the fact that the healthcare workforce is not adequate to meet the needs equitably across the globe.
• Learn about the importance of good mental health as part of overall health – mental and physical are interconnected.

We recommend reading the following articles prior to the event:

• Joint United Nations Statement on ending discrimination in health care settings – https://www.who.int/news/item/27-06-2017-joint-united-nations-statement-on-ending-discrimination-in-health-care-settings#:~:text=States%20have%20an%20immediate%20legal,discrimination%20in%20health%20care%20settings.
• Doherty, A. J., Atherton, H., Boland, P., Hastings, R., Hives, L., Hood, K., … & Chauhan, U. (2020). Barriers and facilitators to primary health care for people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism: an integrative review. BJGP open, 4(3).
• Krahn, G. L., & Fox, M. H. (2014). Health disparities of adults with intellectual disabilities: what do we know? What do we do?. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 27(5), 431-446.
• Olusanya, B. O., Wright, S. M., Nair, M. K. C., Boo, N. Y., Halpern, R., Kuper, H., … & Global Research on Developmental Disabilities Collaborators. (2020). Global burden of childhood epilepsy, intellectual disability, and sensory impairments. Pediatrics, 146(1).
• Stadnick, N. A., Martinez, K., Aarons, G. A., Lee, D. A., Van Cleave, J., & Brookman-Frazee, L. (2020). Pediatric primary care perspectives on integrated mental health care for autism. Academic pediatrics, 20(8), 1140-1147.
• Salvador-Carulla, L., Martínez-Leal, R., Heyler, C., Alvarez-Galvez, J., Veenstra, M. Y., García-Ibáñez, J., … & Van Schrojenstein Lantman-de Valk, H. M. (2015). Training on intellectual disability in health sciences: the European perspective. International journal of developmental disabilities, 61(1), 20-31.
• Navas, P., Amor, A. M., Crespo, M., Wolowiec, Z., & Verdugo, M. Á. (2021). Supports for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic from their own perspective. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 108, 103813.
• Patel, D. R., Cabral, M. D., Ho, A., & Merrick, J. (2020). A clinical primer on intellectual disability. Translational pediatrics, 9(Suppl 1), S23.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Cheryl Kauffman, 215-750-4255, ckauffman@woods.org

Woods Services Names Dinetta Armstrong, MBA, as Senior Vice President of Woods Healthcare, and Executive Director of The Medical Center at Woods

Armstrong will help expand Woods’ integrated care model in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

LANGHORNE, Pa. (Sept. 15, 2023) – Woods Services, part of the Woods System of Care, has brought on board a key new senior leader, Dinetta Armstrong, MBA, as Senior Vice President of Woods Healthcare and Executive Director of The Medical Center at Woods. Armstrong is responsible for health services across the Woods System of Care, a $450 million network across Pennsylvania and New Jersey that provides lifelong care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, brain injury, and behavioral health challenges who may also have complex medical and genetic conditions.

Armstrong is responsible for advancing Woods’ growth in managed care and value-based reimbursement. She will further the integration of Woods Health Services—the NCQA-certified Medical Center at Woods, Penn Dental at Woods, and the Center for Behavioral Health—along with the development of an integrated medical and behavioral health center at RWJBarnabas in Hamilton, New Jersey. Armstrong will work with Sailaja Musunuri, MD, Woods’ executive vice president of integrative medicine and chief of psychiatry, and Stephen Kolesk, MD, Woods’ vice president for medical affairs and managed care/chief medical officer, to lay the groundwork to replicate the integrated care model in strategic locations of high need.

The integrated care model is part of an overall population health management approach that focuses on whole-person care and recognizes the importance of addressing all of a person’s needs to attain the best possible health and behavioral outcomes. That includes acknowledging the social determinants of health (socioeconomic factors, education, geographic location, membership in an under-represented group, access to transportation, etc.), which play deep and meaningful roles in a person’s health and well-being. In the integrated care model, healthcare and other service providers work together seamlessly to eliminate gaps in care.

“Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and autism face enormous barriers to care and, as a result, experience poorer health outcomes, lower quality of life, and higher healthcare costs than the general population,” said Tine Hansen-Turton, President and CEO of Woods Services and the Woods System of Care. “Dinetta will play an integral role in helping expand our evidence-based integrated care model to break down the barriers to quality care.”

“I’m passionate about the power of integrated care to improve the health and well-being of this underserved population,” Armstrong said. “I look forward to developing more partnerships like the one Woods has with RWJ Barnabas Health and Rutgers University.” RWJ Barnabas Health, Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, and Woods Services are joining forces to establish the first integrated healthcare center for individuals with ID/A at Robert Woods Johnson University Hospital Hamilton in early 2024. The center is the first of many more of its kind to come.

Armstrong will also use her expertise to help the Medical Center at Woods’ satellite location at Brian’s House in Exton, Pa., expand to serve more people in Chester County and incorporate new behavioral health services there. The Medical Center at Woods serves as a national model for providing comprehensive, coordinated personalized care for people with complex diagnoses and medical conditions. In April 2023, the Medical Center at Woods was awarded Recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance Patient-Centered Medical Home Program (www.ncqa.org).

Armstrong has more than 25 years of experience working in healthcare administration, including hospitals, managed care, and Federally Qualified Health Centers that provided integrated primary and behavioral healthcare, including wraparound services, to the underserved community in Philadelphia. She has a wealth of experience cultivating new business opportunities to ensure growth, progress, and expansion, as well as working to improve standards of care and quality of service.

Armstrong received her B.S. in health policy and administration from Penn State University, and her M.B.A in health care administration from Temple University.

Dinetta Armstrong Headshot

About Woods System of Care

The Woods System of Care is a $450 million, nonprofit population health organization with 10 affiliates and related organizations and 6,600 employees across PA and NJ. Woods offers integrated healthcare services across the lifespan, including mental and physical healthcare, education, housing, and residential treatment. and employment services for an estimated 27,000 children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, brain injury, and behavioral health challenges who may also have complex medical and genetic conditions. Woods System of Care services enable seamless transitions from one level of care to another.

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