Dr. Genie Bailey was honored with an award from the Association for Behavioral Healthcare Salute for Excellence in Best Practices. Genie is the Chief Behavioral Medicine Officer at SSTAR in Fall River. As a Duke Medical School Graduate boarded in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, Genie has dedicated her career to advancing the field of addiction medicine. Genie’s role at SSTAR is vast. She directly supervises and oversees all aspects of the research department including all staff. In addition, she oversees all aspects of the OBOT and Bridge Clinics. Genie has worked with Brown University, Yale, Harvard, Columbia and Boston Universities in a large number of studies that have resulted in advances in addiction medicine. She is widely published and innovative in her approach to care. Her research background underpins the work of the team and drives SSTAR’s best practice approach. In addition to her research Genie delivers direct patient care utilizing lessons learned to treat patients who walk through the door at SSTAR. Her consistent work in harm reduction has resulted in the integration of strong community outreach programs at SSTAR that rely on her guidance for best practices. Genie’s leadership and guidance impact all areas of behavioral health at SSTAR.
Genie worked with management to make SSTAR an early adopter of injectable and long-lasting injectable agents for SUD treatment and an early originator of a strong Bridge Clinic. In a small city where overdoses have claimed more lives than in other larger cities, Dr. Bailey has adjusted treatment to serve the population. Her innovation and commitment to patient education have grown her clinic to currently serve over nine hundred patients and has given SSTAR the second largest buprenorphine clinic in the state. She worked on site during COVID motivating and leading her team to continue their face-to-face work with an at-risk population. Understanding our patients and what they need has been a core value in Genie’s life work. She is warm and compassionate, always going the extra mile for each person who walks through the door. SSTAR’s outcomes in treatment retention, completed follow up appointments, and treatment engagement are noted to be above the network average for mass health and for other Beacon commercial products.
Genie’s work on micro dosing and the introduction into the programs almost two years ago has begun to further affect SSTAR’s treatment of opioid use disorder. In addition, micro dosing is showing strong outcomes in transitioning patients from methadone to buprenorphine.
In addition to her work at SSTAR, Genie has worked on an international level taking best practices to less developed countries across the globe. Her work on the ground in Armenia to promote prevention through providing healthcare screenings for substance use and depression was a true testament to her best practice, outcomes-based approach. Most recently her remote work to educate doctors and nurses in Maldives on buprenorphine for withdrawal management and maintenance treatments will help to advance outcomes in that country as well.
In Summary, Dr. Genie Bailey exceeds the primary responsibility of her role by bringing together the perfect combination of practitioner, researcher, advocate, teacher and quality manager through her constant desire to innovate to provide best practices. Her strong research background and willingness to implement solutions that forward treatment make her an incredible leader for SSTAR and for the field. Her warm and supportive approach to staff is a bonus that results in a committed and consistent team who promote best practices in their work resulting in strong outcomes.
