How Hats of Wisdom Partnered with Iris Telehealth to Bring Psychiatric Care to Rural Alaska

Hats of Wisdom, a nonprofit behavioral health organization serving Delta Junction, Tok, and overflow patients from Fairbanks, partnered with Iris Telehealth to bring psychiatric care to a rural Alaska community where the service previously did not exist. The partnership added a remote psychiatric nurse practitioner to the clinical team, giving patients greater access to specialized care while creating a more integrated treatment experience.

Background

Access to psychiatric care is a significant challenge across Alaska, where demand for behavioral health services often exceeds the supply of available providers. In Delta Junction, Hats of Wisdom provides counseling and therapy services to residents in the surrounding area, but psychiatric care was not available locally. The organization already relied heavily on telehealth to deliver care, making a virtual psychiatric partnership a natural way to expand the services available to its patients.

Challenge

Patients who needed psychiatric medication often had to travel two hours to Fairbanks or six hours to Anchorage to see a provider—and securing an appointment could take up to a year. With limited psychiatric resources available locally, some patients went months or even years without seeing a psychiatric provider. Primary care physicians could offer some support, but psychiatric treatment was outside their specialty, leaving Hats of Wisdom without a reliable local option for patients needing medication management.

Solution

In early 2024, Hats of Wisdom partnered with Iris Telehealth to add a remote psychiatric nurse practitioner to its clinical team. Although based in Ohio, the Iris provider carries a dedicated caseload for Hats of Wisdom, allowing the practice to introduce psychiatric care to the Delta Junction community. The integrated model also makes collaboration easier, giving Hats of Wisdom’s clinical team direct access to the prescribing provider to discuss patient progress and coordinate treatment.

Results

The partnership brought psychiatric care to a community where it previously wasn’t available, improving access and creating greater stability and reliability around prescribing. Patient feedback has been positive, while the integrated relationship between Hats of Wisdom and its Iris provider has made communication and care coordination more seamless. For patients who previously faced lengthy travel, long waits or potentially went without psychiatric care altogether, Hats of Wisdom can now offer psychiatric services as part of its behavioral health care model.

To learn more about Hats of Wisdom, you can visit their website here. If you’d like learn more about collaborating with Iris to improve access to mental healthcare in your community, contact us today!