Benjamin C. Gonzales, executive director II, virtual care, at Geisinger, said the prominent health system has faced one problem that is the biggest problem in behavioral health care: accessibility: accessibility close. And while Geisinger’s population has certainly experienced its own challenges with accessing behavioral health like other communities, the problem is significantly more complicated by three things.
PROBLEM
“First and foremost is the pandemic,” Gonzales said. “It’s not surprising that our demand spiked just like the other majors in our system. Before the pandemic, our department typically had a few hundred featured referrals.
He continued: “We quickly saw that this number grew to a maximum of 19,000 featured referrals. “It’s important to remember that these are people who were brave enough to ask for help and are probably facing the most challenging days of their lives. As a division, we were at a point where it takes patients almost six months to see one of our providers.”
The team knew they needed to do something about it.
“Secondly, another important part is our position,” noted Gonzales. “We’re a rural health system, and it’s not as easy for us to recruit people as it is for urban health systems.
“And finally, in my opinion, we are simultaneously seeing a reduction in the stigma in the community around behavioral health – and so more people are willing to raise their hands and say, ‘I need it. help’,” he continued. “Ultimately, we get about 180 referrals per day as a result. There are even days when we get close to 400 referrals.”
So Geisinger needed to create breakthrough accessibility and needed to look at ways to make it easier for patients to get the right service the first time rather than prolonging their wait time.
SUGGESTIONS
Geisinger began looking for providers in the summer of 2020 to help the health system deliver a number of services: psychiatric counseling services for adults and children; outpatient evaluations to eliminate guesswork in matching patients with services; and vertical outpatient coverage to supplement existing services, including physician, CRNP and LCSW.
“We wanted to have a team that not only helped us build surge accessibility in a timely manner, but also relied on and developed solutions together,” said Gonzales. “We pride ourselves on being an innovative health system and we feel that the provider Iris Telehealth not only has a solid reputation, high-quality providers, and strong recruitment, but they are also in the co-developed posture, much more creative.
“We have about 20 talented, very smart and dynamic vendors on our team in just a few months.”
Benjamin C. Gonzales, Geisinger
“As a result, we were able to create a timely, collaborative entry review,” he continued. “And now, moving into phase two, working on an integrated care project, we feel a much more viable innovative solution with Iris Telehealth.”
MARKET
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MEET CHALLENGES ONLY
Ultimately, it was the behavioral health leadership team that helped the IT team make progress – taking a leadership role in developing and managing the partnership.
During the development phase, however, both teams came together to review candidates, design services, scale, and implement these and new adoption services.
“One of the biggest advantages is having access to the national pipeline,” explains Gonzales. “It can be difficult to recruit in the rural market, and now we are able to recruit talent suppliers much faster than before. As a result we have about 20 talent suppliers, a lot of talent. smart and motivated in his team in an issue of the month.
“Again, the rest is a collaborative development posture,” he added. “This is most evident during the development of the entry assessment and the introduction of clinical talent. Their expertise in establishing that is invaluable.”
RESULT
The result Gonzales is most proud of is reducing the referral queue from 19,000 patients to 3,000.
“That was amazing,” he said. “We owe a lot of that to the skyrocketing capacity generated by our provider pool and the addition of admissions to help get patients to the right service the first time.
“The second important outcome is the growth of our team,” he added. “We were able to add 20 high-quality suppliers to our team in a very short amount of time. I cannot overstate how influential it is when you can leverage the country system to search talent. As a result we can get people into psychiatry usually within ten days. Before that, maybe a few months.”
And finally, Geisinger learned a lot from his entry assessment development.
“We’ve completed over 4,000 acquisitions and Iris Telehealth has helped us deal with a sizable volume,” Gonzales reports. “But I think the greatest value comes from what we’ve learned along the way.
“For example, what important information do we need to determine the service our patient needs?” he asks. “What can we use to eliminate extra steps for patients? What conditions should bypass admission and have direct access to services led by some of our subspecialists?” Our success and ability to learn is largely due to the collaborative nature of our partnership with sellers.”
TIPS FOR OTHER PEOPLE
At the end of the day, a person cannot have quality care without access to care, says Gonzales.
“That’s not possible,” he said. “We’ve had to be very creative about how we create access for the communities we serve, and we’ll encourage others to do the same.
“Given the shortage of behavioral health providers, we realized that scaling access would most likely be the best and fastest path for us,” he continued. “For us, it’s been incredibly helpful to have a strong partner that can help us supplement our already strong but perhaps undersized team. That’s really what it is for us. me – recognize the value that high quality and timely access can bring to the communities you serve.”
Gonzales advises healthcare delivery organizations to also consider other values that virtual care partnerships can bring.
“One is a nationwide system of candidates that don’t necessarily transfer to your community,” he notes. “They can stay close to their family and loved ones. Second, virtual care gives a lot of flexibility and autonomy to our team. I can’t tell you how often. I got feedback from our providers, both internally and from Iris Telehealth, how much they have benefited from the flexibility of the virtual environment.
“We have great providers who can do things like get married, take care of their loved ones or go back to school while still being able to care for our patients,” he concludes. “Being able to deliver that to our suppliers – working in a flexible environment – is a big deal.”
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