LANGHORNE, Pa. (February 3, 2022) – Woods Services, a Pennsylvania and New Jersey-based nonprofit organization that serves children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and acquired brain injuries, announced Sailaja Musunuri, M.D., as Executive Vice President of Integrative Medicine and Chief of Psychiatry.  She started her position on November 1, 2021.

 

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Musunuri to Woods Services, where she will lead the Integrative Medicine Program across Woods’ system of care in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and supervise and oversee psychiatry services provided to individuals served by Woods and our Pennsylvania affiliates,” said Woods President and CEO Tine Hansen-Turton.

 

“Dr. Musunuri is an experienced and compassionate physician and psychiatrist,” Hansen-Turton said. “She is double board-certified in Adult, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, skilled in delivering quality medical and psychiatric care, conducting research, and teaching at the medical school level.  She brings to Woods her expertise in leading an integrated healthcare model, guiding effective outcome-driven teams, developing solid funder relationships, and managing medications with an emphasis on improving quality of care.”

 

Woods is organized around the principles of population health management and addresses the social determinants of health through a comprehensive continuum and system of care that connects prevention, wellness, education, behavioral health, and social services with coordinated and integrated healthcare delivery. The Medical Center at Woods serves as a national model for providing comprehensive, coordinated personalized care for people with complex diagnoses and medical conditions.  Woods integrated healthcare approach optimizes outcomes for individuals and reduces healthcare costs.

In her role at Woods, Dr, Musunuri will lead and oversee integrative health care both at Woods and across its system of care in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  Her responsibilities include maintaining a caseload of patients needing psychiatric services, managing and approving psychotropic and related medications, creating new and innovative programs and services, bolstering current clinical models and modalities, conducting medication reviews, and developing strong relationships with funders and Managed Care Organizations to ensure compliance and programmatic integrity.

 

“We are truly excited to have Dr. Musunuri return to Woods, where she started her career in 2001, completing a two-year medical internship with our highly regarded psychiatrist, Dr. Mark Reber, while studying at Drexel,” Hansen-Turton added.  “Dr. Musunuri has also worked for several of our peer organizations, most recently as the Medical Director for Devereux Children’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Services, where she worked for 18 years.”

 

Dr. Musunuri received her M.D. from Siddartha Medical College at Nagarjuna University in Vijayawada, India.  She completed residencies in Adult Psychiatry at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Ill., and Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.  She also held a Fellowship in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Drexel.  She resides in Chester Springs, Pa.

 

“We are grateful to Dr. Musunuri for choosing to continue her career at Woods,” Hansen-Turton said.

 

About Woods Services

Woods Services is a nonprofit, life cycle care management and advocacy organization that, along with five affiliate organizations located in Pennsylvania and New Jersey – Allies, Inc., Archway Programs, Legacy Treatment Services, Tabor Services, and Woods Community at Brian’s House – provides innovative, comprehensive, and integrated health, education, housing, workforce, behavioral health, and case management services to more than 20,000 children and adults in the intellectual and developmental disability, behavioral, child welfare, and brain trauma public health sectors who have complex and intensive medical and behavioral healthcare needs. Founded in 1913 by Philadelphia schoolteacher Mollie Woods with two simple goals – to advance quality of life and standard of care for individuals with disabilities – Woods Services continues its mission today by helping children and adults with disabilities or challenges to achieve their highest potential.  Among the ways Woods does this is through its population health management strategy, which includes the integration of primary and specialty medical care with behavioral health in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  For more information, visit woods.org.

 

Published by Open Minds on October 20, 2019

 

In a 15-month pilot program, a Woods Services patient-centered medical home (PCMH) for people with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) decreased the total cost of care by 8.7%. The pilot program was conducted from January 2018 to June 2019 with Keystone First, a Pennsylvania Medicaid managed care plan. The decrease in the cost of care was due to a 39% decrease in inpatient hospitalization costs, and a 2.3% drop in emergency room costs.

 

Medical homes coordinate care through increased use of primary and preventive care. Through the model, Woods offers integrated high-quality primary and preventive care along with behavioral health care for consumers through expanded medical center hours, adding new primary care professionals, increasing access to medical services such as radiology and lab services, and technology that will enable improved coordination and continuity of care, leading to better health outcomes for people with I/DD. The services provided by Woods are intended for people with I/DD, brain injury, or those involved with the child welfare system and who, in many cases, also have complex and intensive medical and behavioral health care needs.

 

Last year, Woods Services served over 600 consumers at its Langhorne location, of which 25% participated in the pilot. The goal of the pilot was to not only track reduction in costs, but also to increase primary care visits and screenings needed to provide consistency of care. To assess the PCMH pilot outcomes, the researchers compared previously reported MCO data on total costs for the pilot participants to their costs while served by the PCMH.

 

Based on the success of the pilot in the decrease of costs, Woods Services intends to expand the PCMH services to include to people with I/DD living in the surrounding community. Woods Services will also explore the expansion of telemedicine to more people with I/DD who are homebound and living in group homes, and those who are adults living with parents. Part of the expansion includes meeting with additional MCOs and expanding to New Jersey.

 

Woods is a population health management non-profit organization that supports 22,000 children and adults with developmental disabilities, complex medical needs, and/or behavioral and other challenges through its system of six affiliated organizations. Its mission is to help each individual achieve their highest potential and independence through innovative and individualized approaches that promote learning and personal fulfillment. Woods offers integrated health, education, housing, workforce, behavioral health services, and case management services.

In the Woods Services v. DRNY litigation, please be advised that this case has been settled to the satisfaction of both Parties.

Woods Services (which was represented in this matter by Mark Aronchick of the Hangley, Aronchick Segal, Pudlin and Schiller law firm) is pleased with the settlement and refers you to the link below to the Joint Statement of the Parties and the Court Order approving the Stipulation which was entered on June 18, 2019.

Joint Statement of Woods Services and DRNY and Settled Court Order

The US Senate is poised to vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA) as early as next week and they need to hear from YOU about the harmful impact of this bill on individuals with disabilities who are served by Woods. The AHCA contains unprecedented changes to the Medicaid program that will harm states’ ability to serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

 

Please join Woods in calling your US Senators TODAY and asking them to vote NO on an AHCA that does not protect our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. Click here for a helpful guide to calling your Senators! Thank you for your support!

 

The AHCA would decrease total Medicaid spending by more than $800 billion and would transition Medicaid to a per capita cap system.  This means that the federal government would determine an amount paid to each state per person enrolled in Medicaid.  Millions of individuals with disabilities and their families rely on Medicaid for their health care and program funding, all of which would be impacted by the proposed cut.

 

A per capita cap system is of particular concern for individuals with disabilities because the same amount would be paid to the state for each individual enrolled without taking into account the severity and complexities of this very medically frail and behaviorally challenged population.  Under this model, states will be faced with budgetary pressures resulting from the reduction in federal Medicaid funds.

 

It is critical that Congress maintain current Medicaid funding levels or establish a mechanism to protect services for the most vulnerable individuals with disabilities and medical and behavioral challenges who rely on adequate Medicaid funding of their services to survive.