VHAN Expands Behavioral Health Support for Members 

Over the last year, VHAN expanded behavioral health support for our members, making care more accessible, more connected and more responsive to the needs of the people we serve. Over the course of the year, we provided:

• 1,002 total behavioral health consultations
• 204 medication consults from psychiatry to primary care providers
• 40 face-to-face psychiatry clinical consultation appointments to patients
• 655 adult and pediatric direct clinical social work care consultations to patients and families

We also doubled our ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) education program last year, offering both spring and fall sessions to give providers more opportunities to connect, learn and collaborate on behavioral health care for their patients.

In addition, we hosted four behavioral health webinars, including a joint program with the Cumberland Pediatric Foundation. We launched a provider drop-in Q&A model in November and hosted two drop-in Q&A sessions with pharmacy and psychiatry with plans to quadruple this offering to quarterly in 2026.

One of the highlights of the year was launching direct behavioral health care coordination in Spanish, expanding access for Spanish-speaking patients and families. This important work was made possible through the collaboration and leadership of our colleague, Crystal Guzman.

Thank you to our behavioral health providers who have made these efforts possible.

Core Behavioral Health Consultation Team
Meg Benningfield, MD
Shannon Brown, LCSW
Melissa Cyperski, PhD
Danielle McDonough, LCSW
Rebecca Sebastian, LCSW MPH

Psychiatry Consultations Provided By
Pediatrics: Meg Benningfield, MD; Cheryl Cobb, MD; Caroline McCool, MD; Edwin Williamson, MD; Nadia Zaim, MD
Adult: Mike Caucci, MD; Daniel Daunis; MD, Johnathan Smith, MD; Ashley VanHaverbeck, MD

Members can learn more about VHAN’s behavioral health services, including how to access the consult lines and other resources, on VHAN Hub.