Addiction Recovery Consultation Liaison Service Launches at BWFH

BWFH’s Addiction Recovery Consultation Liaison Service (ARCS) recently launched to provide timely and expert consultation to BWFH medical and surgical inpatients who present with addiction and psychiatric disorders.

BWFH has the complete spectrum of addiction services which includes detox, dual diagnosis partial hospital program, and an outpatient addiction recovery program, and now includes a much-needed addiction consultation service. The service is a collaboration between internal medicine and addiction psychiatry and provides consults to patients who are medically admitted and can benefit from substance use disorder consultation and treatment.

ARCS offers the following services:

• Substance use intoxication and withdrawal management
• Initiation/induction of methadone or buprenorphine
• Medication treatment for alcohol use disorder
• Phenobarbital dosing and monitoring in alcohol withdrawal syndrome
• Acute pain management in opioid use disorder
• Bridging to community services

Dr. Jasra-Ali Bhat, MD, one of the leaders of the service, an addiction psychiatrist, says she wants to improve linkage and improve patient care: “How do we cut down readmission, how do we help that patient?” she said. “The greatest advantage now is that we have everything available in house.”

“The unique thing about this service is that it’s usually either medicine or psychiatry,” Dr. Bhat said. “Collaboration is one of a kind.” The full collaborative team includes Carol Garner, MD, Lisa Vercollone, MD, PharmD, Shael Brachman, MD, MPH, Ian Huntington, MD, and Madeline Spinosa, NP.

Dr. Bhat emphasized the importance of this program and spreading the word. “Teams often find it confusing regarding who to call during a consult. We want to make it available and spread the word that this service is available to anyone who needs it at any time,” she said.

To call for a consult during weekdays from 8 am to 6 pm, page 61568. For nights, weekends, and holidays, page 66001.