How Allina Health Improved ED Throughput and Expanded Access to Care with Iris Telehealth

Background

Allina Health faced a shortage of psychiatric providers that made it difficult to meet patient needs and support plans for growth. Across the emergency departments at its 12 Minnesota hospitals, patient boarding had become a significant challenge. Some mornings, as many as 40 patients were in a clinical holding pattern while waiting for psychiatric evaluations, affecting the health system’s ability to provide timely medical care.

Challenge

Allina needed a more reliable solution than locum tenens coverage. The health system was looking for dedicated psychiatric providers who could support its emergency departments with on-demand evaluations, including during overnight hours. The goal was to give patients faster access to psychiatric care while easing the backlog that could build overnight and impact emergency department throughput the following morning.

Solution

Allina partnered with Iris Telehealth to provide on-demand telepsychiatry support across its emergency departments. Having virtual psychiatric care available when needed helped improve throughput and allowed patients’ care to advance more quickly. The success of the emergency department partnership also created opportunities for Allina and Iris to expand behavioral health support throughout the health system and into the communities Allina serve.

Results

The partnership helped Allina increase the percentage of emergency department patients discharged to outpatient care from 55% to 62%.

In 2024, Iris providers also delivered 5,000 outpatient visits for Allina. The partnership supported expansion of Allina’s high-acuity partial hospitalization program from 200 to 700 beds, brought Iris providers into med-surg units to address mental health-related clinical needs, and helped Allina more quickly launch cooperative agreements with other health systems to provide mental health and addiction treatment.

To learn more about AMHC, 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!