After a major telehealth acquisition, Horizon Health Alliance now serves almost 70% of patients

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry was gradually considering telehealth as a new way to care for patients. At the same time, technologies like Apple FaceTime and WhatsApp are becoming mainstream for personal video calls.

PROBLEM

Horizon Health Alliance, based in Buffalo, New York, is watching the telehealth industry expand to meet patient needs. In the months leading up to the declaration of the COVID-19 global health pandemic, Horizon prepared and tested the implementation of an innovative telehealth system to expand service options for the patient population. themselves – people with mental health disorders and substance use.

“Horizon notes that we can reduce wait times for appointments; reduce no-shows; remove traffic barriers such as lack of transportation and/or people who are unfit to drive. vehicles; bridge the gap between counselors and patients; and attract those who are hesitant to come to the site, if we have provided a secure platform through which counseling and therapy can be conducted safely. effective,” said Jake Hacker, CIO and security officer.

“Horizon rolled out this solution in November 2019, gradually offering services by clinic and type of treatment,” he added.

In 2019, Horizon Health Services received funding from local grant agencies in Western New York to partner with telemedicine technology and services provider Amwell to deploy a primary care unit. new virtual at Horizon.

Building a new virtual care model involves traditional clinical and executive staff but also includes and expands the roles of IT and cybersecurity staff. In November 2019, Horizon launched a program of controlled trials to assess patient needs and clinical/operating workflows.

“Horizon needs to equip our clinical staff with hundreds of devices to enable them to provide virtual patient care.”

Jake Hacker, Horizon Health Alliance

Haacker recalls: “When the COVID pandemic hit in March 2020, Horizon, like the rest of the world, had to change our organization to meet the needs of our patients while at the same time complying with our guidelines. regulations are changing. “Within a week, we moved our entire organization from a brick-and-mortar store to a virtual healthcare provider.

“It was a lot of effort by the IT department and support/clinical staff,” he continued. “The organization already has the framework in place from the pilot, and has successfully and safely transitioned to continuing to treat our patients.”

SUGGESTIONS

Through the provider selection process, Horizon Health Alliance selected Amwell. Amwell’s virtual care approach and previous implementation projects align with Horizon’s strategic vision for patient care while addressing key barriers the company hopes to reduce.

“Specifically, Amwell’s solution is flexible enough for Horizon to configure and brand the solution to meet our operational workflow,” Haacker explains. “Items like customizing patient notifications, pre-appointment questionnaires and satisfaction surveys, along with secure video connections, are key takeaways.

The supplier has experience addressing the aforementioned common issues and barriers of concern to Horizon.

MARKET

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MEET CHALLENGES ONLY

During the COVID era, the majority of both mental health and substance use disorder appointments have been transitioned to telehealth due to in-person restrictions.

At the time, telehealth technology was a stand-alone system that was not integrated into the electronic health record. Horizon Health Alliance was able to integrate other technologies such as text reminders and credit card payments, which enhanced the patient experience. But some backend operations were copied without the integration.

From 2019-2022, telehealth continues to refine and work closely with Amwell to identify several areas for improvement. In May 2022, Horizon upgraded its EHR to Cerner Millennium, an instance that supports Amwell integration.

This integration has improved both the patient experience and supported operations by eliminating some of the duplicate workflows. Items specifically addressed:

• Remove the required patient username/password.
• Single system for patient information, schedules and clinical health records.

“It was essential for us to integrate telemedicine into our service model, but the reimbursement rates we received for our services did not increase to reflect the costs,” Haacker notes. this additional care fee”.

“Teletherapy doesn’t replace our traditional locations – it complements the work we do there, which makes treating our patients significantly more expensive than before the technology.” Technology has become the tool many of our patients now depend on.”

RESULT

Hacker gives three program goals and outcomes for each:

• Goal: Reduce average wait times for psychiatric services through telehealth by 10%. Result: Horizon was able to reduce the 40-day waiting time for psychiatric services at the end of the benefit period.
• Goal: Extend telephone capacity to residents of two underserved rural areas within 12 months. Results: Horizon served 891 unique patients residing in rural areas with limited access to mental health and substance use disorder services.
• Goal: Reduce lead time for initial appointments from 5.35 business days to 1 business day. Results: With the option of in-person or virtual visits, Horizon can categorize cases to schedule appointments within one business day according to need.

USE FCC AWARD FUNDS

In addition to the aforementioned grants, the Horizon Health Alliance was awarded $697,590 by the FCC’s telehealth grant program.

“In March 2020, when COVID-19 abruptly eliminated face-to-face outpatient visits – and once our initial pilot program was completed – we quickly tracked the rolled out telehealth and made our services available to all outpatients by our entire workforce in a matter of two weeks,” Haacker recalls.

“To achieve this tremendous feat, Horizon needs to equip our clinical staff with hundreds of devices to enable them to care for patients online,” he said. “Apart from clinical staffing, all other support activities need to continue when staff are sent home for safety purposes and for an indefinite period of time.”

Horizon has provided employees with laptops, docking stations, monitors, iPads, keyboards/mouses, and webcams to continue working remotely. In addition, Horizon has upgraded its cybersecurity systems, due to the secure nature of patient visits and information shared over the network.

“We were also able to support the cost of a telehealth license for one year due to the significant increase in operational costs we faced as a result of COVID,” he said. “Horizon is fortunate that the FCC’s COVID-19 telehealth program covers all of these costs.

He continued: “As we get through the worst of COVID, many patients have chosen to continue their mental health and substance use disorder treatment through telehealth so that their engagement can continue. Attending appointments made easy and efficient. “If tailored to the individual circumstances of each patient, this is acceptable.”

Today, Horizon is equipped with the necessary hardware, and it found solutions to the challenges telehealth faced early on. Currently, healthcare workers serve about 70% of patients via telehealth, and patient surveys show very high satisfaction rates with this facility.

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