2021 Health Care Champions Top Doctor: Dr. Alok Jain

In 25 years working in psychiatry, Dr. Alok Jain has never seen the industry as it is today.

There are several factors – the obvious being a global pandemic.

“Every day, people are coming in depressed, suicidal, anxious or have relapsed because of the isolation or detrimental changes to their lives because of COVID,” says Jain, a psychiatrist.

But he’s also running his own psychiatric medical center, a move he made a few years ago when shifting his work from the hospital setting. Jain and his wife, Breanna, a mental health nurse practitioner, started Eustasis Psychiatric and Addiction Health in 2018. The business began serving nine patients on its first day. The growth curve is shaped like a hockey stick.

Today, Alok Jain says Eustasis serves over 10,000 individuals in southwest Missouri. The company recently announced a new clinic in Ozark to complement its two offices along the Medical Mile in Springfield and one in Rogers, Arkansas.

Common issues patients are dealing with, he says, are PTSD, schizophrenia, suicidality, youth cannabis abuse, anxiety, and addictions to opioid and other substances.

“Our business has expanded rapidly to meet the needs of these patients. We have expanded our hours to 12-hour days, and I am now overseeing thousands of patients with the help of my team,” Jain says of the 29 clinicians now on board with Eustasis.

The headquarters clinic in south Springfield is seeing over 125 patients a day, he says. It’s set up with walk-in hours and same-day psychiatric care – one of his motivations to breaking off on his own. Jain says long wait times to see a psychiatrist have been a burden for the industry.

“I believe that the barriers we have all witnessed in obtaining psychiatric care – where the average wait time to see a psychiatrist is months – is not acceptable,” he says. “Both my wife and I have family that have struggled with mental illness. We have tried to navigate that system ourselves and have seen what the devastation of wait times and the system can bring.

“Professionally, I feel an ethical responsibility to change this for others.”

Jain spent the bulk of his career, 16 years, working in the CoxHealth and Burrell Behavioral Health system. Until August 2017, he worked in several roles, including medical director to the geriatric inpatient unit, full-time adult psychiatrist for the acute inpatient floor and part-time coverage for the child/adolescent unit, according to his resume. Most recently, he provided the sole consultation service for the Cox South hospital and was responsible for all patients with acute psychiatric conditions and medically induced behavioral disturbances.

He’s also worked stints with the Ozarks Medical Center in West Plains and Ozarks Community Hospital in Springfield.

Jain earned his medical degree at King George’s Medical University in India and completed a psychiatry residency through University of Missouri-Columbia.

The patient outcomes through Eustasis, Jain says, have justified his career transition.

“I left a consultation liaison position after many years when I felt that if I could reach patients before they were in the worst circumstances and prevent them from getting to that point, it would have the biggest impact on the lives of others and the community,” he says. “I really think we have saved lives here. I know we have.”

Last year, in the thick of the pandemic, Jain says he offered Eustasis as an overflow site for patients at the local emergency rooms. He says he’s committed to see meaningful change and ensure patients of any age and payer source get high-quality care as soon as possible.

“My role is to do the job that most people won’t,” Jain says. “Mental health is tough; you have to balance the emotional needs of the patient but also be capable of addressing all of the medical considerations each patient is going through.”