Welcome to the Newsletter of Silver Hill Hospital.

In this and future issues we’ll focus on topics of key interest to leaders in the mental health field, including, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, because of their importance for providing the highest quality care for all. In what ways do our current diagnostic and descriptive frameworks help and hurt our patients? Which cutting-edge treatments show promise and which are likely to be passing fads? How can we use the latest technologies to help those living with complex mental disorders and how in some cases is the appearance of technology being used to cover up less expensive and less effective treatments? Where are insurance pharmaceutical companies making meaning contributions to patient care and where are they taking advantage of patients and providers? How is the current mental health system failing our patients and their families, and what must we do to fix it?

We have all grown weary of COVID – its severely negative impact on mental health is beyond doubt. However, the problems we are seeing today are not entirely new. They are exacerbations of long-existing underlying problems; the consequences of an inadequate mental health system and insufficient focus on meaningful steps to change how we treat patients with complex and severe illness.

Silver Hill has started researching the impact of intermediate levels of care – residential, intensive, outpatient and partial hospital care – with the goal of showing insurance providers that these are critical services for patients with complex disorders and must be covered adequately. It is the first step toward creating positive change in the mental health arena.

I look forward to sharing our insights about the treatment of complex mental illness through this forum. I invite you to tell us what topics interest you most so that we can align our content with what matters to you.

Andrew J. Gerber, MD, PhD, President and Medical Director