Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, the first Community Health Center in Connecticut, marked its 55th anniversary by celebrating, along with the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center Foundation, the impact of local community leaders and organizations in the New Haven region.

At a sold-out celebratory event held on Thursday, September 21 at the New Haven Lawn Club, CS-HHC and the CS-HHC Foundation honored Ece Tek, M.D., Chief Medical Officer for Behavioral Health and Addiction Services, CS-HHC, who received the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center's Innovation Award. Dr. Tek was one of four individuals recognized at this event. 

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Members Share Your News: CPS Member, Christopher Hammel, MD, Opens New Practice

Polaris Psychiatry is the group practice of Christopher Hammel, MD (owner of Connecticut Psychiatry) and Tonya Ruggieri, MD (Co-Director of the Center for Interventional Psychiatry at the Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital, and a biomedical engineer). We are a new practice focused on interventional psychiatry, initially offering TMS to patients with treatment-resistant MDD. Please contact us to discuss referrals, and we would also be glad to stop by your office to leave business cards and pamphlets for your patients, and/or to talk with you about TMS!

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CPS President, Tichianaa Armah, Advocates for Increased Teleheath Access for Under Resourced Populations

On Sept. 12 & 13, DEA hosted the first of two days of public Telehealth Listening Sessions to host presentations by individuals representing various points of view related to the proposed permanent rules pertaining to controlled medications. 186 requests to present either in person or virtually were submitted and 60 were selected. Among those selected was Dr. Tichianaa Armah who spoke on behalf of CT Psychiatrists and the Community Health Center, Inc. She spoke about the importance of telehealth for increased access for under resourced populations and the impact of changes to audio only visits on people of color and monolingual Spanish speaking patients and the elderly. 

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Federal Government Takes Parity Discussion to States

After meeting with Department of Labor representatives, psychiatrists in Connecticut are encouraging their colleagues in other states to work with their district branches, report problems they have with insurers, and raise public awareness about parity issues.

For about 15 years, federal law has required insurance companies to cover treatment for mental disorders at the same level as medical/surgical care. Yet Tichianaa Armah, M.D., still has patients who must call a laundry list of psychiatrists before they find someone who is in network, even though the lists were provided by their insurance companies. 

In August, Armah was joined by other psychiatrists and mental health advocates to describe examples like this directly to the people who have taken up the fight to crack down on insurers that are not complying with the federal parity law. Members of the Connecticut Psychiatric Society (CPS) and representatives of other mental health advocacy organizations met with Lisa Gomez, assistant secretary of the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Services Administration (EBSA), to discuss parity. Armah is chief psychiatry officer with Community Health Center Inc. and president of CPS.

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