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Avance Centers of Excellence in Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Brings™ Timely, Comprehensive Treatment for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders to Raleigh
Staffed by more than 70 mental health practitioners, the new practice offers the most advanced treatments for psychiatric, substance abuse and chronic pain conditions. Grand Opening Ceremony to be held at 6 p.m. on Sept. 29, 7850 Brier Creek Parkway.
Raleigh, N.C., Sep 20, 2022 – Avance Care announces the opening of the Avance Centers of Excellence in Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, which expands access to comprehensive care for mental health, substance use, and chronic pain conditions in the Research Triangle area and throughout North Carolina.
Avance Centers of Excellence is a best-in-class psychiatric and behavioral health specialty practice led by distinguished mental health experts treating a broad spectrum of conditions, including depression, anxiety, addiction, and chronic pain, with personalized outpatient care and unrivaled expertise.
“North Carolina faces an unprecedented need for timely, effective mental health care,” says Dr. Ashwin Patkar, Chief of Psychiatry at Avance. “Our expertise and availability at Avance Centers of Excellence ensure that our community has access to compassionate, evidence-based care for mental health, substance use and chronic pain disorders, quickly and comprehensively. Moreover, the Avance model of integrating mental health with primary care has been shown to be highly effective in improving health outcomes for our patients and overall cost burden to the system.”
Research indicates that the U.S. is facing a mental health crisis that was exacerbated by the pandemic. Four in 10 U.S. adults reported symptoms of anxiety of depression, and 5 percent have had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year. More than 20 percent of adults have chronic pain, including 8 percent whose pain is severe enough that it interferes with their ability to participate in and enjoy life.
Yet there is a shortage of mental and behavioral health providers. In North Carolina, 54 percent of adults with moderate mental illness did not receive treatment, and the state is ranked 33 out of 50 states in providing access to mental health services. This is unacceptable.
Avance Centers of Excellence is established to address these shortfalls. The Avance Psychiatry and Behavioral Health team brings together more than 70 leading clinicians, including physicians, licensed clinical psychologists, licensed therapists, and other mental health professionals to offer a broad array of the most advanced, evidence-based treatments, all under one roof (and virtually as needed). While other mental health providers are either not taking new patients or have long wait times for appointments, Avance Centers of Excellence can schedule most patients within two weeks. Services offered include:
- Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) for Addiction
- Ketamine infusion therapy and other cutting-edge approaches for Treatment Resistant Depression
- Medical Pain Service specializing in patients with hard-to-treat chronic pain
- Medication management
- A broad array of specialized therapeutic programs
- Behavioral therapy, in person and virtual, individual and group
“We are excited to bring together this level of clinical expertise and breadth of treatments to help meet the critically important mental health needs of our community and state,” Clodfelter says. “Today, the national average wait for an initial mental health appointment is six weeks. For psychiatry it is almost 3 months. We understand the importance of timely access to mental health, substance abuse, and medical pain care, and we are proud to offer our best-in-class treatments to new patients with appointments within two weeks.”
Avance Centers of Excellence in Psychiatry and Behavioral Health is spearheaded by a team of distinguished leaders in psychiatry and behavioral health.
Dr. Ashwin A. Patkar, Chief of Avance Psychiatry and adjunct professor of psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, has over 30 years of clinical and scientific experience in psychopharmacology, addiction, dual diagnoses, and integration of medical care for psychiatric disorders. He is board certified in psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, addiction medicine, and pain medicine. Dr. Patkar has been listed in the Best Doctors in America continuously since 2009.
Dr. Steven Prakken, Medical Director, Avance Medical Pain Service, brings 35 years of clinical experience to the treatment of complex pain patients. His specialty is complex chronic pain patients with comorbid psychiatric symptoms. He is skilled in medication protocols and managing potential substance misuse/abuse. He is a national speaker and author on pain management topics and is a board member of the Pain Society of the Carolinas.
Dr. Robert Millet, Medical Director, Avance Interventional Psychiatry, has over 25 years of clinical, research, and teaching experience with a specialty in treatment resistant disorders. He was one of the first physicians in the U.S. to use esketamine (Spravato®) to treat depression and was previously the medical director for the largest Spravato® clinic in the Southeast.
Dr. Daniel Hauschild, Director of Avance Behavioral Health, has practiced for 30 years in the mental health field, including 23 years as a psychologist. He has provided psychotherapy to individuals suffering from a wide variety of psychiatric conditions and has focused primarily on treating individual adults in recent years.
Dr. Tad Clodfelter, Vice President, Avance Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, brings 20 years of clinical and executive leadership within the mental health field. He is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of North Carolina and a behavioral health and addictions specialist.
About Avance Care
Avance Care is an innovative healthcare organization that has offered convenient, comprehensive healthcare services since 2008. Our mission is to build a comprehensive primary care-centric healthcare system that simplifies healthcare, generates better outcomes, and reduces cost. Founded on the notion that urgent care-type convenience, hospitality industry-type customer focus, and efficiency based on the focused use of technology could be defining characteristics of a primary medical care setting, our unique model has enabled us to generate industry-leading patient satisfaction ratings, quality of care, and efficiency. For more information, please visit AvanceCare.com.