About me
Dr. Steve Epstein is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry of the Georgetown University School of Medicine and Chief of Service of the Department of Psychiatry of MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. He is also Physician Executive Director for Behavioral Health for MedStar Health, a non-profit healthcare organization that includes ten hospitals in DC and Maryland. In this role, he oversees physician recruitment, strategic planning, and quality improvement in inpatient and outpatient psychiatric settings.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After completing a residency in psychiatry at Tufts-New England Medical Center, he was a fellow in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and Inova Fairfax Hospital. From 1990 to 2000 he directed Georgetown’s Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry service and he became department chair in 2001. He currently directs the Physician Health Committee for the MedStar Health system.
Dr. Epstein has conducted NIH-funded research and published extensively in the area of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. In 2001, he was awarded an RO1 grant from NIMH to study primary care physicians’ decision-making in the evaluation and treatment of depression. He has also been principal investigator on two other NIMH grants in this area. He has been the recipient of four teaching awards from Georgetown psychiatry residents. In 2011 he was elected by his peers to the MAGIS Society of Masters Teachers of the Georgetown University School of Medicine.
In 2016 Dr. Epstein served as President of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, the 1400 member national organization for Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. He recently ended his term as Vice Chair of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Committee of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. In July 2015, he was appointed to a six-year term as a member of the Psychiatry Review Committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. For the past seven years he has been a visiting Professor at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya.
Clinical areas of focus
- Behavioral Disorders
- Bipolar Disorder
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Depression
- Mental Health
- Mood Disorders
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Psychopharmacology
- Psychosis
- Psychotherapy
- Suicidal Ideation
- Women's Mental Health
Conditions and procedures
Conditions I treat
- Acute Stress Disorder
- Addiction Disorders
- Adjustment Disorder
- Agitation
- Alcohol Addiction
- Alcohol Dependency
- Anger Issues
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Autism
- Behavioral Disorders
- Behavioral Issues In Dementia
- Bereavement
- Bipolar Disorder
- Body Dysmorphic Disorder
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Brief Psychotic Disorder
- Bulimia Nervosa
- Complicated Bereavement Disorder
- Compulsive And Addictive Behaviors
- Conversion Disorder
- Cyclothymic Disorder
- Delusional Disorder
- Dependent Personality Disorder
- Depression
- Disruptive Behavior
- Dissociative Disorders
- Dual Diagnosis
- Dysthymia
- Eating Disorders
- Executive Function Disorder
- Gender Dysphoria
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Grief
- Hallucinations
- Hoarding Disorder
- Hypochondriasis
- Hypomania
- Impulse Control Disorders
- Intermittent Explosive Disorder
- Mania
- Mental Health Disorders
- Mood Disorders
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Panic Attack
- Paranoia And Delusional Disorders
- Perinatal Mental Health Disorders
- Perinatal Mood Disorders
- Persistent Depressive Disorder
- Personality Disorder
- Phobia
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
- Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
- Psycho Oncology
- Psychopharmacology
- Psychosis
- Psychosomatic Disorders
- Schizoaffective Disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Seasonal Affective Disorder
- Self Harming Behaviors
- Somatic Symptom Disorder
- Somatoform Disorders
- Substance Addiction
- Substance Dependence
- Suicidal Ideation
- Suicide Attempt
- Thought Disorder
- Trichotillomania
Procedures I perform
- Adult Psychiatry
- Anger Management
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Men's Mental Health
- Mental Health
- Neuropsychiatry
- Psychotherapy
- Transplant Psychiatry
- Women's Mental Health
Insurance
MedStar Health accepts most major health insurance plans. If you are uncertain as to whether your individual health insurance plan is accepted at MedStar Health, please call your insurance company.
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List of insurance plans we accept
- Blue Choice Advantage & Healthy Blue (HMO, POS)
- United Healthcare Options (PPO) (includes Empire PPO, GEHA, Compass Rose)
- Kaiser Permanente Medicare Advantage Signature and Select (aka Senior Advantage)
- UnitedHealthcare and AARP Medicare Complete Plans/ UHC Group Medicare Advantage Plans HMO, POS, PPO
- UnitedHealthcare Medicare Adv/Special Needs Plans
- UHC Community Plan of MD
- Private Health Care Systems (PHCS) (PPO)
- Medicare Fee for Service
- Kaiser Virginia Premier
- Kaiser PermanenteSelect-Added Choice
- Kaiser Permanente Signature-Added Choice
- Kaiser Permanente Signature
- Kaiser Permanente Select
- Kaiser Permanente Medicare Plus (Medicare Supplemental Plan)
- Kaiser Permanente Flexible Choice POS
- Kaiser MD Medicaid MCO
- CFBCBS Federal Employee Program (Std/Basic PPO/Blue Focus)
- CFBCBS EPO
- Aetna Innovations: HMO & EPO Plus
- Select HMO/HealthFund/Health Network
- Aetna HMO
- Open POS II
- Innovation Health: Open POS Plus
- Choice POS & Choice POS II
- Aetna Managed Choice Open Access (POS)
- Open EPO Plus
- Opoen HMO Option
- Open HMO
- Innovation Health: POS
- Aetna HMO-Open Access/Select OA/HealthFund/Health Network Option OA
- Innovation Health: Open Network Only Plus
- Aetna Elect Choice/ Open Access (POS)
- Innovation Health: POS Plus
- Aetna Managed Choice (POS)
- Innovation Health: PPO
- Aetna Open Choice (PPO)
- Innovation Health: Indemnity
- Aetna Traditional Choice (PPO)
- BlueChoice Open Access
- CFBCBS Blue Choice Opt Out Open Access
- HealthyBlue PPO
- CFBSBC Blue Preferred PPO
- Choice Fund PPO
- PPO and PPO Plus
- CIGNA EPO
- POS OA & OA Plus
- Network OA
- CIGNA HMO Open Access (OA)
- United Healthcare Choice
- Coventry Health Care National Network PPO
- Aetna Worker's Compensation Network
- Mamsi Life & Health (Indem./PPO)
- Optimum Choice Preferred (POS) & OCI Direct (HMO)
- M.D. IPA Preferred (POS)
- M.D. IPA (HMO)
- United Student Resources
- United Healthcare Choice Plus
- United Healthcare Select Plus (POS)
- United Healthcare Select HMO - EPO/NPP
- MedStar Select (MedStar Associates' Plan)
- MedStar Family Choice - Maryland Health Choice
- Tricare for Life (Medicare Supplemental Plan)
- Tricare Prime
- FIRST HEALTH
- First Health PPO
- Coventry of Delaware HMO/PPO
- Coventry Health Care of Virginia
- CIGNA Indemnity
- Great-West Healthcare POS/CIGNA
- CIGNA POS/Network POS
- CIGNA HMO & Network (HMO)
- CFBCBS (NCA) Indemnity
- CFBCBS Maryland Indemnity or PPO
- CFBCBS Maryland Point of Service Plan (MPOS)
- CFBCBS Blue Choice Opt Out Plus Open Access (POS)
- CFBCBS BlueChoice HMO
- Aetna Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO Plans
- Aetna Student Health Insurance
- Aetna Quality Point of Service (POS)
- Aetna Elect Choice/ EPO (Aetna Health Fund) Innovation Health: Network Only Plus
Education
Fellowship: Georgetown University Medical Center GME (1990)
Residency: Tufts Medical Center (1989)
Medical School: Perelman School Of Medicine At The University Of Pennsylvania (1985)