Clinician Corner: What Dr. Mariela Fuenmayor Finds Most Rewarding as a Telepsychiatry Provider

Iris clinicians are at the heart of what makes our organization such a special place to work. That’s why we’re turning the spotlight on the amazing work they’re doing every day. This month, we’re sitting down to talk with Dr. Mariela Fuenmayor.

Q. How did you find Iris and decide you wanted to be an Iris provider?

A. I found Iris online. I worked for the VA, and the stress level was too high. I started looking for another job that would give me more balance in my life. Then, I found Iris.

Q. How does Telehealth compare to in-person care?

A: There’s no doubt in psychiatry and therapy being able to see someone in person has an impact on people. But the whole world has changed. The amount of reach telehealth can have is amazing.

My school did not approve of telehealth. Now, I see its power, and then the pandemic showed us what we couldn’t see before.

I had been working in telehealth for five years because the VA hired me for telehealth. I was working with high-intensity patients. I already knew how it was, but many people didn’t know.

However, when the pandemic hit, it was a very easy transition to do it. Telehealth has a lot to offer nowadays, especially with the difficulties people have trying to be seen by a psychiatrist. So right now, I see the power, and I don’t think I would go back to the other way.

Q. How do you foster connections with your patients in a virtual environment?

A. My background has an art piece that I’m very connected to. Another thing I use is when talking to the patient, and then I say, “I want to introduce myself. I’m Dr. Fuenmayor. I’m a psychiatrist working for this place. I’m in my office, and it’s my home office, but this is a floor where no one is around. I have four screens in front of me. Sometimes, my dogs are here, and if they are, I will ask you if you want to see them. And sometimes they’re not. So, this is totally private, and the conversation is HIPAA compliant.”

I frame it like that and make sure I move my hands a lot. I’ve read a lot about nonverbal communication, so I practice that, make sure I’m keeping eye contact, and try not to talk when I’m talking to patients, so they feel that they are my priority.

Right now, there is an on-site team member with the patient – often either a nurse, case manager or therapist. So, I explain this to the patient on the call and say, “so-and-so is here.” Before I meet the patient, the on-site team presents everything to me and explains to the patient what will happen. That process has worked out well for me.

Very few patients say, “I want an in-person psychiatrist.” I would say 95% of the patients are okay with telehealth. Some of the patients told me they wanted to see a face-to-face psychiatrist, and they did. Then, they come back to virtual.

Q. How do you manage work-life balance?

A: I live in Arkansas in Central Time and work for California in Pacific Time. I start working at 10:00 a.m. my time and 8:00 a.m. their time. I work an eight-hour shift, and I make sure that my life before my job is the time when I walk and where I do my exercise. I’m a yoga practitioner, and I have time to do it every morning.

I don’t have to drive anywhere. So, I’m just home. I make sure that my office is on the second floor, and I’m never here. This room is just for the office.

It has worked out well for me. I don’t think about work after that. I think about my connection with my family and doing what I want. I do feel like I have achieved that work-life balance. It’s priceless.

Q. What is the most rewarding part of your job?

A. When I can witness, with the team’s help, that I can change a person’s life for good, I’ve gone full circle since I graduated 30-something years ago. Many times, I felt like it was just running and running and not seeing the effect. When I was in private practice, the effect took years to happen.

Today, I work for Community Solutions, a non-profit organization in San Jose and Morgan Hill, California. There is a large transient population – we deal with the social problems they’re going through.

In two or three months they go one month in crisis, residential, then a three-month residential treatment program. In that time, I can see the change, and it is so fulfilling. I am super excited about this. Sometimes, you lose someone, but most of the time, I can see the effect of the team and the work we do in the patient’s life. That is the reason I went to psychiatry. I feel like I completed the whole circle and am back to where I wanted to be.

Q. What do you love about working with Iris?

A. I love it because, technology-wise, whenever I’m having hiccups, someone jumps in, and I feel respected. I have all the support I need. Iris Telehealth and the IT team are amazing. I don’t know them in person, but I’m super grateful. When I cannot connect, someone will jump on in minutes. Technical issues cause the biggest level of stress for a telehealth provider.

Of course, you have that responsibility of the patient. But the big stress is what happens if I cannot connect? What happens if something doesn’t work, and I cannot provide a service? Iris has been amazing at helping me with that.

Melissa Kennedy has also been amazing – she’s an amazing human being. When I have any problems in my personal life that I need to take, she’s very helpful in facilitating that. I feel super supported by Iris, and when I come to work, I want to come to work.

I’m not stressed. I am happy with what I’m going to do. And I know that if something goes wrong, I can text someone, call them, and they can jump on in minutes. That’s what I love about working with Iris.

Q. Why do you think telepsychiatry is the future of mental health care?

A. There are not enough psychiatrists for the number of patients we have. I remember when I used to work in person, no matter what you do or if you try to buy a house close to your office, you still have the commute time. There is a lot of stress about commuting and parking.

Now, we can reach more people and we’re developing more effective ways to communicate. The world is used to video conferences, and there is no question that I can see more people through video than I could see in person. For example, if I have ten patients scheduled today and someone cancels, my team can add someone else to my schedule because I work in telehealth.

When I was working in the office, a no-show was a no-show – and the rate at that time was 30%. From and efficacy standpoint, there’s no question that we can see more patients. I think telemedicine offered a huge step forward in healthcare and telepsychiatry. It’s been a step forward.

New generations are going to ask you for that. I can also see people in person in my private practice when I used to have it, and your people feel comfortable doing video, and they’ll say, “No, let’s do video. I can do it. I can attend your appointment because I just finished working and can do it now. I don’t have to commute.” So, that’s why it’s the future — it makes the service more available to everyone.

Q. What advice would you give to someone who’s new to telehealth?

A. The taxing thing about telehealth is sitting at the desk and in an office. I have overcome that by ensuring I do my outdoor things before I go to work and doing physical exercise.

My advice is to separate your work from your life somehow. I put my office on the floor of my house where no one goes. That way, you have that break. Then, also make sure that you do physical exercise or whatever you do to keep your mind balanced.

Some people do meditation, and I do yoga, but make sure that you do something like that because now, when you walk, you cannot walk in an office. I do have a standing desk, but sitting here is taxing on the body. However, if you make sure that you do that, everything will be okay.

Q. Is there anything else you would like to add about your experience in telehealth?

A. I’m super grateful and happy. I’m proud to work for Iris. Telepsychiatry is a very effective tool. And from the provider’s standpoint, it can allow you to have a work-life balance, which can be very fulfilling. If you had asked me 30 years ago, I would never have told you I would still be so happy doing this. I am so glad and I’m helping people. If someone is going to try telehealth, give yourself a year of this experience, and if you’re like me, you will have a great opportunity to help people. And that’s the reason you went to medical school in the first place.

At Iris, we believe our providers should be respected, valued, and applauded for the work they do, and we couldn’t be more proud to say, “thank you” to our very own Dr. Mariela Fuenmayor. If you’d like to learn more about working for Iris Telehealth, contact us today.

Telepsychiatry in Action: Meet our Clinical Hiring Team

At Iris, we’re proud to offer a top-notch experience for our clinicians and partners by helping ensure excellent, long-term provider matches. This process, called The Iris Match, helps clinicians find an organization that aligns with their values and needs and enables our partners to secure a provider their patients and providers will love. 

Leading this effort is our incredible clinical hiring team. In this blog, we’re excited to share more about this team’s mission, their approach to hiring behavioral health providers, and how they go above and beyond to help ensure our providers are set up for success. 

The mission of the clinical hiring team 

The clinical hiring team comprises Clinical Hiring Managers (CHMs), Clinical Talent Consultants (CTCs), and Clinical Recruitment Coordinators (CRCs). This team revolves around collaboration, starting with the CRCs, who process provider applications through interviews with the CTCs and placements with the CHMs. 

On the organizational side, this team talks with partner groups to learn about their culture, patient population, and all the soft and hard skills providers will need to succeed. From start to finish, everyone is laser-focused on longitudinal matches with quality providers.

Life in clinical hiring is different each day. Whether they’re talking with providers and potential partners or attending meet and greets between the two, they’re invigorated by finding the best matches for each party. 

When zooming out, what sets this team apart is the dedication to their mission. The clinical hiring team is keenly aware of what patients must endure when there are gaps in coverage. That’s why they ensure they’re not just filling a role but making a mindful, high-quality, long-term match. This mission helps organizations with provider retention amid a shortage of behavioral health providers. 

So, what does our clinical hiring team look for when finding that perfect match? Let’s take a closer look.

What makes an excellent Iris provider

At Iris, we pride ourselves on working with the best of the best providers. While so many healthcare organizations need excellent providers, there are a few key components that we’ve found in making quality, long-term matches. 

In community mental health, an excellent provider understands the patient population, the complexities of delivering care to that population, and the demand it can have on them. We’re proud to give voice to the voiceless, and it requires a provider with compassion, understanding, and someone free from judgment.

Additionally, continuity of care is a significant focus for our organization, and we look for that shared value in our providers, too. Resilience is another tool we look for in our providers. By having something in place to help them avoid compassion fatigue and the secondary trauma that comes with these roles is essential.

For our providers, we help ensure they have the operational support they need in their daily work. For example, our Clinical Operation Managers (COMs) help ensure our providers have things like administrative and operational hurdles taken care of so they can focus on patient care. 

To learn more about our Clinical Operation Managers, check out their spotlight here. 

Providers also benefit from our mindful matches. At Iris, we don’t take a plug-and-play approach. Instead, we consider many components of the job to help ensure it matches what our providers want. For instance, we look at the community where they’ll be placed, ask if they’re comfortable seeing a particular patient population, and make sure their skill set is a match for the organization. 

The matchmaking process 

To help assist with making the best long-term match possible, there are a few considerations our clinical hiring team must learn about the providers. For example, do they have a specific prescribing or therapeutic approach they adhere to? Is there a specific population they want to work with? This team also assesses things like personality and communication style to ensure they’d be a good fit for our partners. 

From our partners, we might ask them any of the following questions:

  • What are you looking for in a clinician? 
  • Do you need someone who is more independent or who wants to be a part of the team? 
  • Do you need someone with specific soft skills? 
  • What kind of support do you have on the ground? 

As part of our rigorous vetting process, the clinical hiring team also does multiple interviews with the providers. This thorough process helps ensure that we’re not just filling slots, but making intentional matches. 

When working to make a match, the clinical hiring team asks themselves, “Would I trust someone I love with this provider?” And if the answer is no, then they may not be the best fit. 

Learn more about the support Team Iris provides

If you’d like to learn how our clinical hiring team can help your organization find the best provider fit for your population, contact us today! 

Additionally, if you’d like to learn more about the other pillars of support our teams provide, check out our other spotlights here:

At Iris, we’re proud to provide quality support to all our partners so they can help their patient population get the quality behavioral health care they need. 

How Virtual Care Boosts Patient Satisfaction

Lack of access to proper psychiatric care in the United States is a major challenge for our healthcare system. However, virtual solutions make psychiatric care more accessible, effective, and patient-centered.

The benefits of virtual care for patients are significant. In fact, a study by the American Medical Association demonstrated 79% patient satisfaction with telehealth. For patients, virtual care opens up access to behavioral health services, facilitates shorter wait times, and cuts out the commute to the doctor’s office.

While these benefits are essential, let’s take a closer look at all the ways virtual care boosts patient satisfaction. 

State of virtual behavioral health care

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people found themselves relying on telehealth to get care. In fact, during the first four months of COVID-19, telehealth visits accounted for 23.6% of all interactions. Today, telehealth continues to provide care to those who cannot reach behavioral health services as easily.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitals and health systems continue to experience challenges meeting patient volume and needs with limited behavioral health resources.

Additionally, the ongoing provider shortage underscores the importance of leveraging virtual care as patients still struggle to receive timely care. Thankfully, telepsychiatry can ensure patients receive quality, timely, and sustainable care by connecting them to providers regardless of geographic location.

Patient satisfaction by the numbers

Convenience is an essential factor that contributes to patient satisfaction. According to the American Medical Association, 62% of physicians feel like their patients have higher satisfaction since they’ve started offering virtual care as an option.

At Iris, our clinicians have a similar experience with patient satisfaction. Dr. Kavita Vasu, one of our psychiatrists, says virtual care gives her patients flexibility, allowing them to access care from wherever they are – whether at home or work. Dr. Vasu also notes that no-show rates are significantly lower.

Additionally, research shows that virtual care is an effective way to increase patient access. According to the 2022 CVS Health Care insights, 59% of patients said that accessing virtual telehealth services was essential to their health.

Overall, the data is clear – patient satisfaction with virtual care is high. 

The J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Telehealth Satisfaction Study says that a growing number of patients prefer telehealth visits for various types of care, including routine care, prescription refills, and regular mental health visits. The survey also says 94% of patients and their families who have used telehealth in the past “definitely will” or “probably will” continue to utilize it.

Virtual care reaches those who need care most

In a database released by the Health Resources & Services Administration, numbers show that 157 million people live in a mental health professional shortage area (HPSA). Virtual care makes access to specialty behavioral health providers more easily available to those who live far from care.

Here are just a few of the populations that benefit from telepsychiatry access:

  • LGBTQIA+: For LGBTQIA+ youth, access to mental health can be difficult due to inadequate mental health care, fear of discussing mental health concerns, and stigma. Utilizing virtual care can help LGBTQIA+ youth overcome some of these barriers by promoting a safe and accessible method for the delivery of care.
  • Youth: Child psychiatry is more important than ever, with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Hospital Association, and the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry declaring a mental health emergency for youth in October 2021. With virtual care, children can be screened for mental health conditions, and have a psychiatrist ready to support and treat them. Additionally, parents no longer have to take time out of their day to bring their children to their mental health appointments, making care more convenient for both families and children.
  • Geriatric populations: Early intervention, collaborative care, and a holistic approach are both vital when it comes to addressing the health of the geriatric population in your community. Virtual care can be an essential tool for older adults to receive care from the comfort of their own homes while maintaining a sense of autonomy.
  • Rural populations: Barriers like limited health literacy, transportation challenges, and privacy are just a few challenges that rural populations face when they’re trying to get the care they need. However, virtual care provides an opportunity for rural communities to connect to a high-quality mental health provider without a long commute and fear of stigma.
  • Underserved populations: Social determinants of health create and exacerbate mental illness by making access to mental health care more difficult. Access to providers that are culturally competent can allow minorities to connect with a provider who can better relate to their experiences.

How virtual care boosts patient satisfaction in the ED

In the emergency department (ED), virtual care can allow patients faster access to behavioral health care through a virtual visit. This improved access means patients don’t have to wait hours to receive treatment and can have a shorter stay in the ED – leading to an improved patient experience overall. 

Avoiding ED boarding is crucial to patient satisfaction, as there are many downstream harms that can come with it. The Joint Commission (TJC) recently shared how boarding is a patient safety risk that leads to increased medical errors, compromised patient privacy, and increased mortality, especially if it exceeds four hours. With the help of virtual care, organizations can  increase throughput in the ED and decrease the need for patient boarding.

How Iris can help

At Iris Telehealth, we envision a better world through healthy minds. If you’re looking to meet the behavioral needs of your community and help your patients achieve better health outcomes, telepsychiatry is the perfect solution. Contact us today if you’d like to learn more about implementing telepsychiatry into your organization. 

Clinician Corner: Dr. Jean Oelschlager on the Power of a Holistic Approach to Behavioral Healthcare

Iris clinicians are at the heart of what makes our organization such a special place to work. That’s why we’re turning the spotlight on the amazing work they’re doing every day. This month, we’re sitting down to talk with Dr. Jean Oelschlager.

Q. How did you find Iris and decide you wanted to be an Iris provider?

A. I retired from my position in Wisconsin with community mental health in 2020 amid the pandemic. We moved to Arizona, and I planned to volunteer out here. During the pandemic, no one was accepting volunteers, particularly older volunteers. I thought I couldn’t just sit at home all the time. I needed to do something productive and useful. I thought about doing locums work again because I had done that work in the past, and I reached out to a couple of the companies I worked with, and they didn’t have anything that worked for me.

I wasn’t looking for a full-time job. I was looking for something where I could work two or three days a week because I wanted to retire or semi-retire. That didn’t pan out. I thought maybe I should check into telehealth.

I found Iris listed and read more about it. The more I learned about Iris, the more it seemed like it was a good fit for me because they were willing to be flexible with part-time hours, with the possibility that I might want to return to Wisconsin in the summers.

I like the mission to provide services to underserved areas. I like that Iris was started by a psychiatrist who saw this need and stepped up by starting the company. All those things were appealing, and the people I talked to were lovely, helpful people. It seemed like a really good fit. The process started at the beginning of 2021, and by September 2021, I started with the clinic in Missouri.

Q. How does telehealth compare to in-person care?

A. I’ve learned how to communicate better in the virtual world with patients. You have to be more tuned into eye contact and be more verbal about what you’re doing when you’re looking away so they know what you’re doing if you work with two screens.

I have one screen for the Zoom call and the other for the medical record. I’ll tell them if I’m doing something else, like ordering medications. They can see that when you’re in an office setting, but they can’t when you’re virtual. You have to be more mindful to let patients know when you’re not looking at them what’s happening. You give them time for them to answer.

The other thing that has worked well with my setup with Iris and the clinic in Missouri is that patients come into the clinic.

I don’t do virtual visits in their homes. They come in and get their vitals. We do PHQ-9s and AIMs, and then the nurse scans it so that I can see everything. I have a designated nurse that I’ve worked with throughout my time at the clinic. She knows my routine. She’s that physical presence for me, an extension of me. And that has worked really well.

Because sometimes she can see things that I can’t necessarily see and can alert me to that. I know not every situation with telehealth works that way, but I’m really happy that’s how it worked out. I value that team approach and that she’s there in person to connect with patients and see things that I might not catch virtually.

Q. How do you foster connection with patients virtually?

A. Eye contact is probably the biggest thing. Also, using the staff that’s physically present in the clinic to reach out to patients. For example, we had a patient who had postpartum depression, and I was concerned about her. We connected her with one of our therapists, who contacted her between my visits to see how she was doing.

The other thing that’s really nice about my setup is that it’s a primary care clinic. So most of the providers in the clinic are primary care, and then they have a behavioral health and substance use department, too. It’s happened more than once that a patient comes in to see me, and they are medically ill. They either have an upper respiratory infection or a UTI, or something needs to be addressed.

My nurse will try to get them in to see one of the primary care providers around our appointment. That way, the patient (particularly if it’s a more acute situation where we’re really concerned about them) can be seen and get their issue addressed either right before I see them or right after. That holistic approach creates a good relationship with patients that they appreciate. I appreciate it, too, because I know they’re getting their needs met in other areas.

Q. As a healthcare professional, how do you manage work-life balance?

A. The biggest thing is that at my stage now, I can say I’m only going to work two days a week. That was really an important part of coming back to work. I had been doing this for 30+ years and wanted to do other things, not just work full-time. That was one of the things with doing telehealth and joining Iris, was Iris being flexible enough to say, “Yes, we can find something where you can just work two days a week.”

I wasn’t interested in doing call anymore. I did that for years – been there, done that. I put my time in doing call. I wanted something where I could do outpatient work a few days a week without worrying about the call.

Not to say that I never would get a call. There have been instances where a question came up on a patient, and the clinic would call me on my non-work days. But that’s extremely rare. It may only have happened a couple of times in the two years I’ve been working.

Being able to do just the two days a week has worked really well because it’s allowed me to do other things. One of the things we enjoy doing out here is hiking. We’ve got a hiking group that we do regularly—staying active. The climate here is conducive to that, except in the middle of July.

Even then, you have to get up really early. I still do that and walk at least two miles daily every morning. I just get up really early when it’s hot. I think what we tell our patients is to stay healthy. Work is important, and I think that it helps me to stay mentally active, feel productive, and like I’m still contributing.

I’m volunteering at a couple of places, which has been great meeting the people in the community, making new friends, and staying active socially. All those things are important.

Q. What is the most rewarding part of your job?

A. I would say seeing patients get better or having that “aha moment” where they connect how they can change their thinking or behavior that will make life better for them.

Q. What do you love about working with Iris?

A. The flexibility. The staff I’ve worked with have been wonderful and helpful—for example, the IT folks. I’ve had a couple of times where stuff didn’t work, and I was sending texts because of the time difference between Missouri and Arizona. I was texting them early in the morning, “This isn’t working, and I have patients starting at this time. I need help right away.” Then, within minutes I was getting help.

That’s been consistent because it’s happened several times. I’m not a tech guru by any means, and that’s probably my greatest anxiety is wondering, “What’s going to happen with the computer? Or, is there going to be some upgrade or downgrade?” The IT staff have been wonderful. The supervisory folks, like Melissa Kennedy are wonderful.

I had an accident where I was hit by a car while I was out walking last year, and I broke my back, leg, and pelvis. I was in a wheelchair for six weeks. Iris was very understanding, and the clinic understood that I had to get better. After three weeks of not working, I was so bored because I was wheelchair-bound.

The clinic and Iris helped me figure out a schedule where I would work just a few hours a day. I’d work a couple of hours, then I’d rest a couple of hours, and then I started seeing patients again after three weeks, even though I was still in the wheelchair. That’s another example of the flexibility that I value both with the clinic and with Iris. That was wonderful.

I’ve had a miraculous recovery, and that’s amazing. I feel very blessed, but that was being able to just work a little bit for probably a month to six weeks until I was more ambulatory. That was good for my mental health, too. Because I was homebound, unless my husband would load me up with a wheelchair to take me somewhere, which was a big to do, that flexibility was very important and helpful.

Q. What advice would you give someone new to telehealth?

A. I would say find the right company that will support you. It’s important to have a team behind you to help with credentialing and vetting potential clinics that you might be working for. The IT component – Iris has been great about providing the equipment and helping with getting licensing and malpractice coverage. I think that’s probably my biggest thing is just finding the right fit with a company that can give you that support and help getting started.

At Iris, we believe our providers should be respected, valued, and applauded for the work they do, and we couldn’t be more proud to say, “thank you” to our very own Dr. Jean Oelschlager. If you’d like to learn more about working for Iris Telehealth, contact us today.

Five Things You Should Know Before Building a Telehealth Program In-House

Over the last several years, it’s become clear that telehealth is here to stay. According to the American Psychiatric Association, nearly 60% of Americans would use telehealth for mental healthcare, and 43% currently want to continue using telehealth services when the pandemic is over.

With that data — and telehealth’s ability to expand access to high-quality providers — it’s no surprise that organizations are thinking through how to start a telemental health practice and leverage it as a long-term solution.

But, if your organization is wondering how to build a telepsychiatry practice in-house, you should consider some important first steps, limitations, and potential alternatives (like formal behavioral health vendor partnerships).

1. Building a telehealth program in-house won’t solve any recruitment challenges

As a medical group dedicated to providing virtual care services to healthcare organizations across the country, Iris Telehealth has access to a provider pool that spans all 50 states. However, individual organizations just starting to transition to telehealth as a long-term solution will likely be limited to the same provider pool they’d use for in-person providers.

And that’s not the only challenge you might encounter. For example, if you have an in-person provider who you think might transition to telehealth on a full-time or part-time basis, they may decide they don’t like telepsychiatry after all. Or they may get scooped up by another organization because they’re not limited by geographical location anymore.

At Iris, however, we not only assess their clinical skills, but their technical skills and screen presence as well. We have an intensive vetting process to make sure telepsychiatry is a good fit for that individual provider.

2. A formal telehealth program requires specific technological considerations

As you’re learning how to start a telepsychiatry practice in-house, you should ask yourself these questions:

  • Do we have the right video platform?
  • Do we have the right security in place (i.e. VPNs)?
  • Will our platform work for our current staff and patients?
  • Is our program HIPAA compliant?
  • Do we have sufficient IT support for handling technological difficulties or glitches?

If you’re uncertain about the answers to any of these questions, a vendor partner like Iris Telehealth might benefit you and your team as you navigate this process. (And, even if we’re not an official partner of yours, we’d be happy to talk through your needs with you.)

3. The telehealth landscape is constantly changing (and may be hard to navigate on your own)

Policies in the behavioral health space continue to evolve. Whether it’s around HIPAA compliance, reimbursements for audio-only appointments, or billing and coding — things continue to change as more states pass legislation that permanently expands telehealth services.

It can be challenging to stay on top of all the relevant changes as just one healthcare organization. No matter your size or approach to telehealth, the organization needed to manage telehealth-specific policies will likely be a big lift for your team.

That’s where a vendor partner may come in handy to offer perspectives on how similar organizations are navigating this space right now.

4. You’ll need dedicated, telehealth-specific policies for your providers

There’s a lot of information and “what ifs” to consider if you’re trying to build your own telehealth program.

Here are just a few of the policies you might want to put into place:

  • A standard 90-day grace period for providers leaving your organization. If you don’t tell your provider when they start that they have to give you 90 days’ notice, you may not have time to find a replacement provider when they leave. 90-day policies protect clinics, providers, and patients.
  • A strong policy around computer usage. You don’t want someone accidentally putting a virus on your network if they’re using their computer for other things or are engaging with spammy content.
  • No-show policies and policies for telehealth, specifically around remote patients (not in your clinic).
  • Policies around when the telehealth provider should end a session or not have a session with a particular patient.
  • A billing policy for patients who show up late to appointments.
  • Standard prescribing rules and protocols.

5. Your EMR may not be set up for behavioral health or telehealth right now

If you’re determined to build your telehealth program in-house, the first thing you need to look at is the capabilities and limitations of your EMR.

Make sure you have it set up for behavioral health before you do anything else. A common mistake organizations (particularly FQHCs and CHCs beginning psych services for the first time) make is trying to run their virtual behavioral health program the same way they run their primary care. When that happens, they often end up overbooking providers. But behavioral health is a different paradigm.

Remember, ideally, you want your EMR to be able to encompass your scheduling, patient records, e-prescribing, and video in one system.

A formal behavioral health partner could help support you and your organization

One of the unique benefits of telepsychiatry and a partnership with Iris is our Clinical Operations Managers (COMs). We’re a concierge service whose number one goal is making sure you and your patients are getting the care and support you need. If, for example, there’s a scheduling issue or a provider conflict we can help resolve it using solutions we have seen and used at clinics across the country.

Every day, we help mediate and advocate for clinics and clinicians to ensure there’s efficient and effective patient care.

Here’s what that would mean for your organization:

  • Our 24/7 IT support can interface with your organization’s IT to solve problems and can often independently solve them for our providers.
  • We have support for billing and scheduling issues.
  • We are Joint Commission accredited — which means we can assist with provider credentialing and paneling (we have some partners who do credentialing by proxy with us).
  • We match your organization with a top-quality provider who specializes in the areas you need (and who we’ve already vetted to ensure virtual care is a good fit for them).
  • After we’ve matched a provider with your organization, we help make sure they have the right technology and that the doctor knows what they need to know to evaluate your patients.
  • We assume all of the expenses of the benefits and PTO.
  • We are a true partner dedicated to long-term care and service. We make sure our providers are an extension of your team and do everything in our power to ensure continuity of care for your patients.

Whether you’re interested in learning how to make your own program a success or creating a formal partnership with Iris, we’re here to help. Contact us today to get the conversation started.

How Virtual Care Can Transform Your Health System’s Approach to Behavioral Health

Integrating behavioral health across all patient journeys can transform a health system and how it delivers care for its community.

As Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at Iris Telehealth, I’ve seen first-hand the impact effective behavioral health integration can have on a health system and its patients. Whether through better clinical outcomes and access, increased revenue, or positive margins – our health system partners sustainably leverage and integrate scalable behavioral health services seamlessly across their ecosystem.

Learn how our partners are finding success by integrating behavioral health services across their health systems, what the patient journey looks like through a virtual lens, and the financial impact virtual services can have on a health system.

The tangible impact of integrating behavioral health services

Experiencing the tangible impacts of integrated behavioral health services starts by providing timely access to quality care – and making sure that care is financially sustainable.

Once the need for behavioral health care is met, health systems may experience the following benefits:

  • Better access
  • Better patient outcomes
  • Improved financials
  • Reduced total cost of care
  • A patient and provider community that feels supported

Helping health systems take back control of a fragmented healthcare landscape

Today, health systems are being disaggregated by a myriad of competitors – both new and old. This trend is contributing to lower health system revenue, but also to a further fragmentation of the patient journey. At Iris, we want to help health systems take back control of this fragmentation to ensure patients are getting integrated, whole-person care.

We believe providing integrated behavioral healthcare is a critical component to patient care. The reality is – behavioral healthcare should be infused into every journey. Whether a patient just received a cancer diagnosis, is an expecting mother, or is experiencing escalating anxiety at a primary care appointment, integrating behavioral health care will drive better patient care and eliminate the need for a patient to look elsewhere to fill gaps in their care needs.

At the end of the day, our goal is to help health systems deliver on their ultimate promise of delivering whole-person, integrated care.

How to integrate virtual services across a health system

The mistake many health systems make is believing that integrating virtual care into their health system is as simple as having virtual providers available to see patients. In practice, it is much more nuanced. We believe in the concept of “integrating virtual care locally” – whereby the referring provider knows and trusts the behavioral health care team they are relying on, and the virtual team truly knows the local dynamics. This approach is really the only way to build trust and create true continuity of care.

Additionally, the care experience has to be the same whether a patient is part of an Iris program or not. That is why our entire patient journey is built with the idea of integrating into, and leveraging, the health system technology already in place. The Iris provider is integrated seamlessly into the health system and the patient journey feels no different than it would if they were seeing an in-person provider.

The financial impact of integrating behavioral health services

The financial realities of providing behavioral healthcare are undoubtedly a challenge. But, in our experience, it is possible to deliver high-quality behavioral health care and have it be financially sustainable.

We have helped health systems double their behavioral health revenue while delivering a 10% program operating margin. And, study after study shows that providing outpatient behavioral healthcare reduces the total cost of care.

How is this impact possible? It comes down to the disciplined execution of a few key tenets:

  • First, ensure you’re driving top-of-license care from a true care team approach. Yes, it is essential to have psychiatrists available for high acuity patients, but from our experience, we’ve seen psychiatrists relied on too heavily for patient care than what is clinically appropriate. That is why we leverage industry-leading navigation assessments, with a true care team approach to make sure every patient is seen by their optimal provider with a tailored care plan.
  • Second, be sure to optimize the operational complexities of care delivery. Patient no-show rates, provider turnover, full provider panels, and consultation with referring providers are all critical to ensuring the program is sustainable.
  • Finally, revenue cycle optimization is critical. Many health systems are not getting paid optimally for the care they provide and that has to change. Revenue cycle optimization means ensuring the optimal codes are being billed, providers are documenting appropriately, and payers are approving claims. Constant measurement, continuous improvement and dialogue with payers are critical, and can make a significant difference.

It is a reality that if there is “no money, there is no mission,” and therefore we are dedicated to ensuring our programs deliver on high clinical quality and financial sustainability.

The spirit of partnership with Iris Telehealth

At Iris, one of our core values is to suck less every day, which speaks to our commitment to continuous improvement and our journey to excellence. No health system has behavioral health figured out, and no health system expects to be perfect tomorrow. Everyone’s on a journey to be better than they were yesterday. If together we commit to continual improvement, we will make a lot of progress and deliver better care for our communities.

If you’d like to learn more about how we can work together, don’t hesitate to contact us today!

As Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer, Dan Ferris drives strategy and revenue growth acceleration by identifying market opportunities and increasing awareness of how Iris can uniquely solve customer needs. Dan brings twenty years of healthcare experience in various marketing, product and strategy roles at Hillrom, CIGNA, Abbott, and Putnam Associates, a healthcare strategy consultancy.

Why (and When) You Should Consider a Virtual Medical Director

Striking the right balance between prioritizing quality patient care and managing everyday leadership tasks is pivotal for healthcare organizations. But it’s not always easy. Hospitals and clinics have safety and quality metrics they must report on, and sometimes it’s unclear who’s responsible and whether they have the training and skills to do that type of work.

During my years at Iris, I’ve seen many clinics promote staff members into leadership positions based on seniority rather than on that person having experience in leadership or administration. That’s where leveraging an Iris provider as a virtual medical director for a behavioral health program can be a great move.

Our providers are integrated into the organizations in which they see patients. They know the staff, the patients, and the clinical challenges that the organization faces, but they can also be involved in higher-level discussions and the administrative decision-making and leadership required for clinics to maintain safety and quality reporting.

In this article, I’ll share some of my insights into how leveraging a virtual medical director works, the benefits they can bring to an organization, and how on-site teams can build trust with a virtual medical director.

How leveraging a virtual medical director works

In many places across the country, our providers serve as virtual medical directors as well as behavioral health providers. Generally, the hours are divided so the providers and staff can know which hat is being worn when.

For example, we carve out administrative time with regular meeting cadences to meet with staff and go over things like policy reviews, safety incidences, and quality metrics – and perform supervisory services when needed. That provider will also have clinical hours where they deliver psychiatric services to patients through regular appointments.

It’s important to delineate how the provider uses their hours each day to prevent confusion. There are always a lot of patients to see, so the medical director may not have the time to do the administrative work if it’s not scheduled. Setting goals, having a solid job description and expectations, and protecting time for weekly administrative and leadership meetings are essential to success in the medical director’s role.

How to build trust between an on-site staff and virtual medical director

The way humans interact is really changing. While the gold standard in healthcare has been in-person care, on-site behavioral health services aren’t always available — this became painfully apparent during the pandemic. Not only did clinics and hospitals need more providers to serve the surge of patients seeking behavioral healthcare, they needed new leadership models and staffing structures.

Telemedicine enabled us to serve so many clinics and hospitals around the country, but coming out of the pandemic, we also knew that being an organization that clinics and hospitals could trust to do virtual care well was important. We were able to demonstrate that finding a virtual behavioral health provider who can be a leader and who truly cares about your community and your clinic helps build that trust – even if they’re three or four states away.

At Iris, we’ve found the key to building that trust is open, honest, and transparent communication — it’s at the core of everything we do. We get to know the on-site team members on a first-name basis and become comfortable with each other clinically, professionally, and personally. Our goal is for our virtual behavioral health providers to be as accessible as any on-site provider might be — that’s one of the ways to build trust.

As a provider, I’ve also found making yourself available online, just as you would in person, is helpful for building trust and engagement with an on-site team.

For example, leaving your office door cracked is the universal sign that you’re available to staff when you’re not with a patient. With virtual care, leaving your video on between patients or meetings allows staff to virtually pop in and say “hi” or ask a question related to patient care. So even if you’re on a screen, the on-site staff feel like you’re present. That’s the quality and integrity of the interactions we strive for at Iris.

How to set your virtual medical director up for success

Setting up your medical director for success involves developing clear goals and objectives as well as clear boundaries.

A few questions we’ve found helpful to ask in this process are:

  • How many hours will your medical director need for the administrative function?
  • Who held this role before? What were their challenges? Why did they leave?
  • What are the expectations of this role?
  • What meetings, supervision, and oversight are required in this role?
  • What would success in this role look like to your team?

We’ve helped many organizations develop job descriptions to help them answer these questions as they pertain to their unique clinical workflow and staffing matrix.

For example, a remote medical director might be responsible for working with the Chief Financial Officer or operations team. They might need to put together presentations to demonstrate the safety and quality initiatives your organization is tracking and how your organization responds to – and measures the success of – new initiatives.

Additionally, there are financial metrics, quality reports, coding, and all sorts of things a virtual medical director is regularly reviewing.

Breaking down the responsibilities of a virtual medical director

A medical director’s role is really focused on directing the clinical delivery of care and the quality, safety, and integrity of that care so patients get the help they need and providers get the support they need. This can be done through virtual leadership just as easily as through traditional on-site leadership.

In my experience, supporting teams of providers – including doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, and therapists –is very meaningful whether it is done in person or virtually.

Medical directors can be a sounding board for providers to bounce ideas off of as well as a resource for dealing with challenging clinical cases. Behavioral health patients can have high levels of acuity and sometimes have needs that providers can’t meet, so supporting colleagues and staff in their efforts to deal with dissatisfied patients can be very helpful.

Again, such support can be offered virtually by a medical director just as it might be done in person.

Where Iris Telehealth fits in

By working with a virtual care provider like Iris, your organization has a larger pool of providers to draw from. Whether you have a small office or a large clinic that needs help finding a medical director, we can help you find one that your staff and patients will enjoy working with.

If you’d like to learn more about our experience matching organizations with a virtual medical director, be sure to read through our case study from Chesapeake Integrated Behavioral Healthcare in Virginia. You can read the full piece here.

If you‘d like to talk to someone about potentially hiring a medical director, be sure to contact us today. We’d be happy to talk through the process and learn more about your needs.

Dr. Tom Milam manages our team of clinicians and guides them in telemedicine and industry best practices. He received his undergraduate degree from WVU in Anthropology, graduating summa cum laude, and received his M.D. from the University of Virginia. His residency training in psychiatry took place at Duke and UVA. Dr. Milam has served in a leadership role throughout his psychiatric career and spearheaded the telepsychiatry initiative at his previous hospital.

Clinician Corner: Dr. Valerie King-Ernst Shares How Virtual Care Compares to In-Person Care

Iris clinicians are at the heart of what makes our organization such a special place to work. That’s why we’re turning the spotlight on the amazing work they’re doing every day. This month, we’re sitting down to talk with Dr. Valerie King-Ernst.

Q. How did you find Iris and decide you wanted to be an Iris provider?

A. I had been getting inundated with emails from telehealth companies. Iris was one of them. I spoke with a few companies, but what led me to choose Iris is that when I met with or spoke with one of the individuals on the team, they were personable, and they made me feel like as a provider – if I worked with Iris – I would be looked after, and have a support team in place.

When I spoke with other telehealth companies, they sold it by saying, “You’ll have a lot of autonomy.” While I wanted that autonomy, I also wanted a team behind me. I didn’t feel like I would get that with other places.

Q. How does telehealth compare to in-person care?

A. The biggest difference is not having to travel. That’s the best thing. There isn’t anything that can beat that. Not having to travel allows me time to get situated to go over a chart, maybe run down all the patients and see like, “Okay, I might use this with this person, I might use that with that person.”

Not to say that I don’t do that when I’m in the outpatient setting or having to travel to a place, but I feel like when you’re in traffic, things can get a little stressful because you’re traveling in rush hour traffic and sometimes that can get a little tense for people. And when you don’t have to do that, that’s one less stressor, one less thing to worry about.

Working from home allows you to focus on getting ready for the day and getting prepared for the day when you can do it from home.

Q. How do you foster connection with patients virtually?

A. I have to be honest with you, I do nothing different than what I do inpatient or in person except, of course, I do ask them if they’ve done telehealth before. I also make sure to remind them that this is confidential, and I explain all of that to them.

In terms of developing a rapport, if it’s the first visit, I’ll introduce myself, and then I make sure I maintain eye contact. I greet them with a smile when they first sit down, and sometimes, I’ll find one thing they’ve said, and I’ll try to let them know that. I may share something that’s not too personal about myself but something they might be able to relate to so they know I understand what they’re saying.

And then I do a lot of empathic listening where I repeat back to them what they’ve said or paraphrase what they’ve said so they know that I’m here, I’m listening. I don’t just do that with telehealth. I do that all the time. I paraphrase what they said and ask, “Did I get that right?”

At the end of an initial visit, I always thank them for sharing their story. And that, for me, is a way of building rapport. So they know, “I appreciate that you came and you talked to this stranger for the first time, and you are sharing all this information.”

Then, on subsequent visits, I always make sure to remember key things they said and say, “Oh, okay, that’s right. Because you said, your daughter had a soccer game after that. How did that go?” So they know they’re not just a symptom to me. They are somebody that I care about, and I want to get to know them.

Q. As a healthcare professional, how do you manage work-life balance?

A. I make sure that I’m done by a certain time. I generally get all my work done before I have to sign off. The reason why I’m doing telehealth is to allow myself to have more time with my family.

I make time to stop work at a certain time. I try to stop at least no later than a couple of hours after my last patient.

Q. What is the most rewarding part of your job?

A. Particularly in this position, I would say that I get to work with underserved communities. I’ve worked in areas where I have worked with people that had communities that had a lot of the resources, like very well-to-do communities.

You can see the difference. They have the resources and places where they can be referred to for additional support in the community. However, working in an underserved community is more gratifying for me because a lot of times, when I’m talking to my patients, I realize they don’t know about a lot of the resources available.

I had a patient last month who had food insecurity. She was saying that she can’t spend much on medications. They don’t have money to eat or anything. They don’t have food in the house.

I went online and asked her, “Do you know if there’s a food bank in your area?” And she didn’t. I did obviously talk about churches, but then I Googled a food bank for her. Then, I put that information in the after-visit summary.

I had a patient whose kid had special needs. They were talking about everything they have to deal with in terms of that. So, I went online and looked up a special needs organization in their community, and then I put that in the after-visit summary. That’s what I like about working with underserved communities.

When I work with communities with a lot more, they already have those services. Like, “Oh yeah, my kid is in this, my kid is in that.” But when you’re working with the underserved communities, they don’t really have all those resources, and they don’t know where to find them.

It is gratifying to be able to do the extra research for them.

Q. What do you love about working with Iris?

A. Having clinical managers. I can focus more on patient care. There’s always these political machinations that go on behind the scenes, and having a clinical manager I can say, “This is a concern.” It allows me to focus more on patient care. Then they can take the concern to the clinic, and I don’t have to worry about the other in-between stuff. I can go ahead and focus on patient care. So that’s a plus for sure.

And also building relationships with them is good too because they’re good people. So that is one of the good things about it.

Q. Why do you think telepsychiatry is important to the future of mental healthcare?

A. Thirty years ago, there were more community mental health centers. We have fewer now. A lot of them have shut down due to lack of funding. There’s a shortage of psychiatrists and mental health providers. Telepsychiatry is important because now we get to reach those communities that do not have those services. Access is very important.

Q. What advice would you give someone new to telehealth?

A. I would tell them to take advantage of all that telehealth has to offer because it allows you more time to spend with family because you don’t have to worry about commuting. And it allows you to focus more on patient care. Take that in and appreciate that you have that advantage over those people that are not doing telehealth.

At Iris, we believe our providers should be respected, valued, and applauded for the work they do, and we couldn’t be more proud to say, “thank you” to our very own Dr. Valerie King-Ernst. If you’d like to learn more about working for Iris Telehealth, contact us today.

How to Track Quality Improvement in Behavioral Health Care

Quality management is paramount to making sure you stay on track with your behavioral health goals.

Let’s take a look at how to define quality management, the benefits of quality management, and quality initiatives your organization can put into action.

The importance of quality improvement in behavioral health

Ensuring your patients get the quality care they need by assessing the impact of your behavioral health programming is essential. 

Here’s what Iris Telehealth’s Executive Director of Quality, RN, MS, CPHQ, had to say about the importance of having a quality management strategy in place:



“We cannot know for sure if we’re impacting patient outcomes without measuring them. We can think we’re doing a good job (or not), and we can look at the qualitative evidence, which is important and should not be discounted. But, without some quantitative measurement or goal in mind, we cannot be certain of whether we’re making meaningful improvement.
That’s where having a quality management strategy comes into play. It forces organizations to think about what excellent care looks like to identify opportunities to improve, take action, and, most importantly, effect meaningful change.”
Yara Nielsenshultz, RN, MS, CPHQ, Executive Director of Quality

 

Focusing on quality improvement initiatives are critical to treatment outcomes, efficiency, patient safety, and timely care. By tracking and knowing with certainty how your behavioral health programs are performing, you can be sure that your patients are getting the best care possible.

To get more of our expertise, download our guide on the impact of quality management in healthcare.

Seven healthcare quality measures your organization can track

In behavioral health, objective measurement of treatment effectiveness can be challenging.

However, determining specific performance measures and goals and then gathering data on those measures provides meaningful, actionable information. This information is critical to identifying opportunities to improve and track the effectiveness of any initiatives or changes you implement over time.

Here are seven healthcare quality measures your organization can track to ensure your behavioral health program is operating as smoothly as possible:  

  1. Wait time: Monitoring this metric helps avoid waste (time, resources, or equipment), and provides promptness of services (reducing wait times, eliminating discharge delays, etc.)
  2. No-shows: Monitoring and improving no-show rates supports consistency, which may improve patient outcomes and access to care while also optimizing provider time
  3. Performing validated screening: Using validated screening tools, such as PHQ-9, GAD-7, or C-SSRS, provides measurable data to help monitor the impact of healthcare services or interventions on the health status of patients.
  4. Safety events; suicide: It’s critical to monitor safety events, such as treatment errors or suicide, so your team can prevent and reduce errors and protect patients
  5. Timely response to patients: Tracking and optimizing response times ensures services are respectful and responsive to patient’s needs while providing the same high level of care to everyone
  6. Patient Reported Outcomes (PROMs): Tracking patient-reported outcomes provides measurable data on patients’ perception of treatment effectiveness, which complements patient satisfaction and can inform quality improvement activities
  7. Patient satisfaction: Implementing surveys or measures to understand patient satisfaction delivers key insights into perceptions of the care patients receive

Tracking these measures is essential for improving the quality and monitoring of your behavioral health program. However, doing it alone can be overwhelming. That’s why having a partner who can help you track these metrics and work to improve upon them is key.

The keys to quality improvement in healthcare

At Iris, we collaborate with partners to optimize their behavioral health programs and maximize their benefits. That means we collaborate and exchange data, aggregate and report information, and help their team improve upon identified quality improvement metrics.

From our experience, these are the three pillars we’ve found that make a successful quality management solution:

  1. Ongoing monitoring: Meeting quality measures means keeping track of key metrics through ongoing monitoring. By leveraging a partner who effectively monitors quality measures, you’re better positioned to meet performance standards and stay on top of accreditation, certification, and regulatory requirements.
  1. Regular communication: To help stay on top of key metrics, regular touch bases to analyze quality metrics and compare how your performance tracks against target goals are essential. In addition to frequent touch points, at Iris, we deliver easily understandable visualizations, identify trends, and look for opportunities for improvement.
  1. Customized reports: Access to customized reports can help your team know how your organization is tracking. At Iris, we interpret data in an easy-to-understand way that helps provide guidance and recommendations for the best next steps for your organization to meet quality improvement initiatives. We help monitor, evaluate, and improve on selected quality measures like patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, efficiency, and resource utilization.   

Partnering with an organization that provides quality management alongside their behavioral health programs offers many benefits, including adding additional resources to support your organization’s quality initiatives, supporting positive patient outcomes, and helping meet accreditation, certification, and regulatory requirements.

Where Iris Telehealth fits in

At Iris, we’ve helped our partners reduce the length of stay in their MedSurg units by 0.5 days, increased ED discharge rates from 55% to 62%, and reduced their length of stay in the ED from 12 to 9 hours.

Additionally, as a Joint Commission-accredited medical group, we have the expertise to help organizations monitor and address gaps to meet required standards and quality measures. We’ve also helped partners track no-show rates and helped compare provider performance to uncover best practices that were then replicated and implemented across care teams.

To learn more about how you can improve quality initiatives at your organization, contact our downloadable, The Impact of Quality Management in Healthcare. Or, if you’d like to talk to someone to learn how we can help jumpstart your quality initiatives or behavioral health program, contact us today.

How Telehealth Supports Work-Life Balance for Clinicians

Work-life balance is essential in the behavioral health industry. In this blog, we’ll review the impact of clinician burnout, how telehealth helps support work-life balance, and what a day-in-the life of a virtual behavioral health provider looks like.

The impact of provider burnout

Provider burnout impacts well-being and makes it harder for providers to access the work-life balance they need. In a 2023 report, The Physicians Foundation outlines the following data points related to the current and future state of physician well-being:

  • Six in 10 physicians often have feelings of burnout
  • Only 31% of physicians believe their workplace culture prioritizes their well-being
  • Half of physicians surveyed believed insurance requirements, documentation protocols, regulatory policies, and mandatory training requirements hindered their ability to provide quality, cost efficient care

In this climate, how can providers know if an organization values work-life balance and helps ensure providers have the support they need to succeed? Let’s take a look at the keys to finding the right organizational fit.

The key to finding the right organizational fit

In a study published in the National Library of Medicine, researchers discovered that 42% of primary care providers and psychiatrists considered their profession a true calling. Moreover, among those who experienced a stronger sense of calling, 31% reported a reduced level of burnout.

At Iris, we’ve found the following aspects as key components that set the stage for a healthy work-life balance and allows you to focus on what you do best:

Job matching: Finding the right organization to work for is essential to helping ensure work-life balance. That’s why, at Iris, we vet our partners to ensure they’ll be the best fit for our providers. We also take things like our provider’s desired schedule and the ideal population they’d like to work with into consideration. We focus on culture and values to find the best match possible.

“A really unique part of Iris’s approach is the job matching process. Iris holds a meet and greet with the Clinical Operations Manager, the provider, and the clinic. Everyone meets and discovers whether or not they’ll be a good fit. I couldn’t be happier with where they placed me.”
– Dale McQueeney, MS, RN, PMHNP-BC

Top-notch support: Working in a virtual environment comes with its own challenges. Thankfully, with the right organization by your side, these potential setbacks are minimized. At Iris, we have several teams in place to advocate for our providers and make sure they always have someone to call. From our Clinical Operations Managers to our IT team, you can focus on patient care without having to worry about all of the little things that might get in the way.

“One of the things I love about working with Iris is the support. For example, Drew Sadler, the Clinician Operations Manager, has provided amazing support and the IT team is always ready to help.”
– Nicole Bradbury, LCSW

Licensing and credentialing: Managing licensing and credentialing can be a tedious process. In fact, The Physicians Foundation study found that 80% of physicians found a reduction of administrative burdens helpful to their well-being. At Iris, our Medical Staff Services team monitors our provider’s files daily to ensure their licensing and credentialing are on track and renew current providers’ licenses as needed.

Click here to learn more about the work our MSS team does to help ensure ease for our providers.

A day in the life of a telehealth provider

Telehealth helps support essential components of work-life balance, including no commute times, flexible hours, and the ability to transition from your work into your life easier.

Here are a few ways telehealth providers at Iris have felt the positive impacts of telehealth work:

“It’s not only about the part-time job but also the fact that I don’t have to commute. I live in a very rural place in the mountains, so I can walk on my break after lunch, or if I have a no-show or finish on time with a patient, I can take a break and go for a walk and come back. That wouldn’t have happened in my prior job. I value that a lot. It makes a big difference.”
– Dr. Carissa Cabán-Alemán

“I just completed four years with Iris. I really enjoy having all this flexibility and ability to spend time with family and get everything I need to get done during my day and still work an eight-hour shift. That is definitely a good thing.”
– Dr. Manoela Denman

“It’s tremendously easier managing work-life balance from home because my commute is really short, and it’s incredible how much time and money goes into working at a distant site from your home.”
– Dennis Dodd, PMHNP

If you’d like to learn more about what life as a telehealth provider looks like, be sure to get your copy of our downloadable here.

Where Iris Telehealth fits in

Whether you’re a psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, or a therapist, work-life balance is a key component to your job satisfaction. At Iris, we recognize and work to support your well-being at every step of your journey. If you’d like to learn more about life at Iris, feel free to contact us today.

You can also stay-up-to date on combating burnout, news from the behavioral health industry, and insights into telehealth career opportunities and resources by signing up for our Behavioral Health Messenger newsletter – get all the info and subscribe here.