How to Transition from Private Practice to a Telehealth Group

Making the move from private practice to working for a telehealth group comes with a lot of benefits and considerations. In this blog, we’ll outline the pros and cons of making this switch and offer recommendations for making this transition seamless.

Are you looking for something specific? Use this table of contents to jump where you need to go:

Table of contents
Why you might consider a transition to telehealth
The benefits of working for a telehealth group
How to make your transition to telehealth seamless
What life at Iris looks like

Why you might consider a transition to telehealth

Owning and operating your own practice comes with many benefits and challenges. On the one hand, you can choose your clientele and the type of care you want to provide and create a schedule that aligns with the type of practice you wish to have. On the other hand, being in charge of everything can be demanding.

For instance, running your practice requires you to book and bill your clients, manage your paneling, licensing, and credentialing, and pay for an electronic health record. It may also feel like you always have to be available to patients. When working in a hospital, community mental health center, or federally qualified health center, patients have a line to call for emergencies – but in private practice, you are that line.

While there are several challenges to private practice, let’s take a close look at some of the benefits telehealth offers.

The benefits of working for a telehealth group

While private practice requires a significant amount of time and attention, working for a supportive telehealth group can take a huge weight off your shoulders.

Here are a few of the biggest benefits of working for a telehealth group:

Less overhead: Telehealth groups like Iris Telehealth pay providers based on hours scheduled, not volume seen. In a private practice setting, you might schedule seven clients in a day, but if only three show up, you’re only paid for that three. Additionally, in certain organizations like Iris, we provide all the necessary equipment and you don’t have to worry about billing.

Multiple layers of support: With a telehealth group on your side, you have someone to walk your entire journey. At Iris, you are supported by a full cycle recruiting team who walk alongside you from your first phone call through your placement at a hand-selected partner group.

Help with licensing and credentialing: If you’ve worked in mental health before, you understand how laborious it is to keep up with licensing, credentialing, and paneling. That’s why working with a telehealth group that takes care of these processes for you is invaluable. For example, once you are matched with an Iris partner group you are provided the support of a medical staff services team who takes care of these logistics and helps maintain these things for you.

Unique perks of telehealth: With telehealth, you’re not at risk of running into patients when you’re out and about in your community. In many cases, you will be a couple of states away from where your clients live. Additionally, telehealth also takes away the stressful commute, the need to do your own marketing, and provides a comfortable work from home environment. With telehealth, you can expand your experience and maintain your work-life balance in a way you may not have been able to in a private practice setting.

How to make your switch from private practice seamless

If you think telehealth might be the best fit for you and your needs, here are a few ways you can begin your transition from private practice.

  1. Create a transition plan: Consider how you will transition your clients and where they can go for treatment after your time together ends. It’s essential to be mindful of your time and ensure you’re not overworking yourself with additional private practice work once you transition to telehealth.
  2. Think through lifestyle changes: Transitioning from working for yourself to working for someone else can take some getting used to, so it’s important to consider what that change will be like. There might also be new assessments, documentation, and specific therapeutic engagement and approaches that you might have to become familiar with as you transition to telehealth.
  3. Consider your working space: Working for a telehealth group means you’ll be working from your home. With that change comes a few different considerations. First, you should ensure your space is HIPPA compliant and has good lighting, acoustics, and a strong internet connection. It’s also important to check that your internet has adequate upload and download speeds.
  4. Determine how you’ll manage work-life balance: Another consideration for working remotely is how you’ll manage work-life balance when your office becomes a part of your home. It’s important to think through how you’ll separate the two and the structures you can put in place to help transition from work to life with more ease.

What life at Iris looks like

At Iris Telehealth, we believe our providers should be applauded for the incredible work they do each day. By partnering with us, you can feel good about working with a group that since 2019, has been accredited by the Joint Commission for behavioral health.

We can’t wait to see how we can work together to create a better world through healthy minds. Contact us today to learn more about open roles at Iris!

Becoming a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic

As more states become eligible for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) certification and funding, healthcare organizations are considering becoming CCBHCs. The opportunities for CCBHCs continue to expand, and it’s in your organization’s best interest to consider obtaining CCBHC certification. The certification process can be labor-intensive but it offers many benefits to organization and patients.

In this piece, we’ll discuss the requirements, challenges, and how to become a certified community behavioral health clinic.

What is a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC)?

The CCBHC program began in 2014 to identify healthcare organizations with exceptional, comprehensive care and provide them with additional funding to increase access to services. It’s grown since then, and Congress has appropriated annual funds for CCBHC expansion grants since 2018. These grants allow CCBHCs to expand access to care. However, existing funds are not intended for long-term sustainability, and states are working to expand the state CCBHC model within state Medicaid programs to account for long-term growth. Bipartisan federal legislation was introduced in 2020 to extend CCBHC programs to new states and expand the reach of currently existing CCBHCs.

The fact that both state and federal governments are prioritizing CCBHCs is a testament to their success and essential work in the community. And, CCBHCs distinguish themselves from more traditional care models in a number of ways, including:

  • Their emphasis on increasing access to care
  • Their “open-door policy” requires them to serve anyone needing care. They partner with local primary care facilities and hospitals. They integrate with physical health care to serve patients’ mental and physical health needs
  • Their tailored care for active-duty military and veterans and commitment to involving peers and family in care processes
  • To learn more about CCBHCs and what they provide, check out this resource from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

CCBHCs serve everyone without limitations on geographic location or ability to pay because of the additional funding they receive.

How do logistics differ from other mental health providers?

You’ll notice shorter wait times for CCBHC mental health services than you would working with other mental health providers. CCBHCs aim for a five-day wait time for new intakes, and most also have walk-in clinics. Some CCBHCs even provide same-day access.

CCBHCs are also required to provide 24/7/365 access to crisis care, including mobile crisis teams and crisis hotlines.

On top of shorter wait times, a few other CCBHC requirements include:

  • Evidence-based practices: As a CCBHC, you must maintain an additional level of quality by using evidence-based practices for every process.
  • MAT: You’ll need a care coordinator who offers medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for substance use disorders.
  • Payment: You’ll have to establish a sustainable payment program that allows the practice to exist even without grants or additional government funding.

Who is eligible for CCBHC certification?

All nonprofit health centers are eligible to become CCBHCs. Many organizations fall into the nonprofit category, including:

  • Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs)
  • Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)
  • State mental health clinics
  • Tribal health organizations
  • Other nonprofit health centers

While for-profit clinics cannot individually be certified as CCBHCs, they can be certified collaborating partners of a CCBHC system.

The pros and cons of CCBHC certification

Of course, there are pros and cons to CCBHC certification. Benefits of certification include the fact that your organization is held to a higher standard. These stands mean you provider better care for patients and eligibility for more funding even beyond the CCBHC grants. Cons include the lengthy and involved process and the fact that you’ll need a dedicated implementation team to become certified.

If you decide the pros outweigh the cons, your next step will be a three-part process to prepare your organization for certification.

You’ll first set expectations for your team, then review your policies and procedures while simultaneously evaluating your MAT protocol. We’ll review each of these steps below.

  1. Set expectations: As you’re considering the process, set expectations within your organization. It can take up to a year to get off the ground as a CCBHC and will be an involved process. Large organizations may be able to move through the process more easily, as they may already be providing many of the services required for CCBHC certification. Smaller organizations may take a couple of years to increase staffing to a point that will make them viable CCBHC candidates.
  2. Review policies and procedures: CCBHCs must accept all patients and use evidence-based practices. You’ll need to review all of your policies and procedures to ensure every action you currently take is deliberate and documented. If your clinic uses the “we’ve always done it this way” mentality, your policies will not hold up under scrutiny by accreditors. Reviewing policies is a major task, as it means policies ranging from how you prescribe medications to cleaning processes for the laundry room must be documented. Today, Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) make it easier to track the number of patients served, services they receive, follow-up times for crisis calls, and more. While many health centers are already capturing this data for internal purposes, it’s important to ensure data is captured consistently and reported to external auditors.
  3. MAT protocol: Clinics who aren’t already offering medication-assisted treatment (MAT) may find the MAT requirement a barrier as they consider certification. Consider what your center currently offers, and remember your clinic does not have to be a full free-standing methadone or suboxone clinic but does need to provide evidence-based MAT.

Fortunately, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel! Many other clinics have gone through the process, and templates for policies and procedures reduce some of the work. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and use the resources available. There are databases across the country for clinics to share resources.

What other challenges could I encounter?

The process for gaining CCBHC certification is constantly in motion. Staff turnover is one of the biggest challenges you could face during implementation. If your staff turns over during the quality management phase, you may lose progress and crucial internal knowledge.

To account for this potential challenge, make sure you have a reliable point person, usually the clinic’s director of quality management, to lead the project and be the final point of contact. Once certified, your quality management team will also have to prepare for audits and answer auditors’ questions on demand.

Be proactive, not reactive

We hope this discussion has given you some insight into the world of CCBHCs. Just as hospitals were striving for Joint Commission accreditation years ago, we believe nonprofit health centers will soon need to move toward CCBHC certification to ensure they’re providing the best quality care. Leaders in the field can influence the future of community mental health care by being CCBHC certified early instead of being forced to become certified in the future.

More resources

Also, remember that sister centers within your state and other healthcare provider have gone through the process can be valuable resources.

As always, Iris Telehealth is here to guide you. Contact us for more information about CCBHC certification and benefits.

How to Increase Mental Health Care in Native American Communities

Approximately 1.3% of the United States population identifies as Native American or Alaskan Native. In 2020, it was reported that over 19% of this population experienced a mental health condition.

Although many individuals in these populations require treatment, the majority of Native Americans reside in rural areas where access to mental health services is severely limited. Thankfully, telehealth can help bridge the gap and connect this community to culturally competent behavioral health services that meet them where they are.

Want to know how your organization can help increase access to care for this population? Take a closer look below:

Table of Contents
Barriers to mental health care for the Native American community
Best practices for mental health organizations
The benefits of telehealth for the Native American community
How Iris Telehealth can help

Barriers to behavioral health care for the Native American community

Access to healthcare can come with various challenges, including a lack of culturally competent care, a shortage of specialty providers, and cultural and systemic barriers that can influence behavioral health outcomes.

Let’s examine some of the most significant obstacles this community faces when seeking care.

  • Lack of culturally competent care: One of the most considerable barriers for the Native American population is the lack of culturally competent care available where they live. Many behavioral health providers may not understand the unique cultural experiences of Native American individuals and families, which may lead to inadequate treatment or misunderstandings. However, working with a telehealth group that facilitates provider matching services can help organizations find a clinician who is passionate about serving this community and trained in providing culturally competent care.
  • Historical trauma: Native Americans have a history of trauma due to colonialism, forced relocation, and genocide. The trauma inflicted on Native American populations can impact their mental health today, leading to substance use, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and even suicidal ideation. For providers, it’s important to acknowledge where they are in their own learning and awareness of indigenous culture and experience. Working with providers who maintain curiosity and openness about a person’s cultural history can help reinforce identity and resilience among patients.
  • Speciality care: For the Native American population facing disproportionately high rates of substance use disorder, increased suicide, and depression getting the right specialty care is essential. Without specialty care, patients may rely on primary care physicians or general practitioners for mental health care. While these providers do their best to address mental health needs, a provider with specialized training and experience is best suited for patients with complex needs. With increased access to specialty care, Native American patients can receive accurate assessments, comprehensive treatment, and complex medication regimens if needed.
  • Mental health deserts: For Native Americans living in healthcare deserts, getting to an in-person appointment may not be possible. According to a study by GoodRx Health, more than 113,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives live in 492 counties that lack mental health providers. The research also found that over 90% of these areas are rural and have limited healthcare resources. These mental health deserts can exacerbate access issues and put care further out of reach.

How organizations can address mental health in the Native American community

While Native American populations may face considerable challenges in receiving mental health care, organizations can play a fundamental role in addressing these barriers.

Here are four strategies that healthcare organizations can use to improve access and outcomes for Native American populations:

  1. Leverage social media: Social media can be a powerful tool mental health organizations can use to connect with the Native American community. Social media has the power to reach a wider audience, provide resources, and bring awareness to mental health issues. For example, organizations can leverage social media to promote local events like community health fairs, food drives, or other happenings that create a safe space for Native Americans to help address their needs.
  2. Establish partnerships in the community: Mental health organizations can establish partnerships with other organizations in the Native American community to help improve access to mental health care. This strategy can include partnerships with tribal health clinics, community health centers, or other organizations that serve this population. By working together, mental health organizations and community partners can help build trust, increase awareness, and provide more comprehensive behavioral health care services.
  3. Work with culturally competent behavioral health providers: Understanding the history of healthcare within a community is vital. Is there a language for mental health? Are mental health diagnoses a sign of weakness in a specific culture or community? By identifying and understanding the difference in history and culture, your organizations can meet people where they are and provide more effective care to different communities.
  4. Implement telehealth: Healthcare organizations can offer alternative care delivery methods to the Native American population, like telehealth. Remote solutions can help overcome some of the barriers to access by providing Native American patients with greater access to behavioral health care services.

How telehealth can help address mental health in the Native American community

Here are a few ways telehealth can increase access and improve the quality of care for the Native American community:

  • Culturally competent providers: Telehealth enables the Native American community to connect with culturally competent mental health providers while also granting the organization access to a broader range of specialists who may not be geographically accessible otherwise. At Iris, our provider matching process allows organizations to find the best telemental health provider for the populations they serve. When facilitating provider matching services, we look for a provider who aligns with your organization’s prescribing philosophy and help ensure they are passionate about serving your community and knowledgeable about your population.
  • Flexibility: In addition to increasing access to mental health providers and having a provider who can meet the needs of your community, telehealth can offer flexibility in scheduling and transportation for Native American populations. For those who reside in remote areas of the country, a remote behavioral health care option can reduce transportation barriers.
  • Confidentiality: Many Native American communities are tight-knit, with many members of the family being interconnected. Therefore, Native American populations may also face stigma from family and community members when seeking mental health care treatment. Telehealth can offer a more comfortable and confidential setting for those seeking mental health services, especially when discussing mental health concerns with a provider outside their community.

How Iris Telehealth can help

Iris Telehealth can assist your health system by connecting your community with providers who understand your population and can provide the specialty care they need.

If you’d like to learn more about how Iris can help implement a telepsychiatry solution to provide more accessible care options for Native American individuals and families, contact us today.

Clinician Corner: How Dr. María López-Rosario Keeps Children and Adolescents Engaged in Virtual 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. María López-Rosario.

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

A. I was working at a pretty terrible job in community psychiatry. I’ve always loved community psychiatry, and that’s what I wanted to do. However, at that point in my life, I needed more flexibility. So, I reached out to my residency colleagues, and two of them were working for Iris, and they are one of my best friends from residency. I trusted them and applied, and here I am after four years, and one of them is still working for Iris, too. It feels like a flexible, comfortable place for them and has been for me, too.

Q. How does telepsychiatry compare to in-person work?

A. That question was probably the biggest one in my mind before I did telepsychiatry because, before Iris, I had never done telework. It is different in the beginning, but it feels like it’s not different once you start, and once you begin an appointment and get to know the person, it feels like the computer and the camera go away. Because I deal with mostly children and adolescents, sometimes the little kids can be a little hard to engage in the camera because they’re so active and energetic. You need to figure out a way to engage them.

For example, I’ll change my virtual background. If I know I have a seven-year-old, I’ll put a Minecraft background on, which makes it easier to get started. It’s different because you might need to put a little more work into engagement, but, in the end, once engagement and rapport are built, the computer screen’s camera really goes away.

I’ll use Minecraft, Pokemon, and Unicorns – as long as you have something in vogue and trendy with the kiddos, it’s fun, and they’ll engage. It is a way to get to know them, too. It’s just a way to personalize the meeting.

Q. How do you foster connection with patients virtually?

A. In general, I think technology and virtual environments are what kids and adolescents engage with these days. Because this population is the majority of the patients I see, I don’t think it’s hard at all, especially for adolescents. They even sometimes prefer it. If they have a severe anxiety disorder, they might put the camera away. I’ve even had kids I see face-to-face write something in the chat. Like, “I’m embarrassed to tell you this, but it’s not as personal if I just write it out.”

I usually try to see the patient alone, but if the parent is around, they might say, “Okay, I’m going to write this in the chat because I don’t want anybody to hear it.” And they’ll write something like, “I have a girlfriend.” It’s more private and chat doesn’t make it personal. I’m still getting all the information in whatever way they like to give it to me.

Being virtual gives you a lot more options than being in person.

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

A. Work-life balance is one of the reasons I chose telehealth. I think work-life balance is super important. Because my clinic starts a little later in the day, I can get up pretty early, drop my daughter off at daycare, drop my son off at school, work out, shower, and then connect. I have a few hours that I actually take care of myself a little bit. Of course, I love vacations, and I love food. So I always take my vacation, and I go traveling. I go out to eat. I’m with my family. And the fact that I can disconnect and just kind of be here, it’s helpful to foster that work-life balance.

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

A. It’s a hard question because my work is so rewarding overall. It can be difficult. It’s very heavy sometimes. We kind of swallow and absorb a lot of the problems that are happening with our patients, but there’s so much reward in seeing kids and adolescents thrive and become successful adults.

Whenever I get that question, a particular patient always comes to mind. I had been working with a patient who was about 14 when I first started treating her. She has pretty significant anorexia nervosa. She was a very smart, bright child, but her brain was starving. So, she was doing really poorly in school. She sometimes didn’t have energy.

Then whenever we started treating her with medication on my part, therapy from the team, and support altogether, she slowly regained weight and started being herself again. I treat community mental health, so this population is poor, underserved people. At the end of the day, she was able to graduate, and she was given a scholarship to Harvard. It was such a big experience. It was not only that she got better from the anorexia, but she was confident, independent, and able to get out in the world, and have such an amazing accomplishment. The success of my patients is the most rewarding.

Q. What do you love about working with Iris?

A. Iris is really the best company I’ve ever worked with. It’s probably been the only company that treats you more as an individual rather than as, you know, “you’re just one of the doctors here.” Whenever I was one or two years in, my manager sent me an amazing gift. She sent me a drawing of myself in a cape. In one hand, I was holding a pizza slice, and the other was holding a weight. It was so heartwarming because she knows me. She knows I’m a foodie, and she knows I love to go out and take care of myself, too.

Then, alongside the picture was a charcuterie board shaped like Puerto Rico. I am from Puerto Rico, and she knows I am super proud of my Puerto Rican roots. I don’t think even someone in my family would give me such a significant gift. I think the details are key. I don’t think any other company would care about that.

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

A. I think it’s paramount and essential — not only telepsychiatry but telemedicine work in general. We learned how important it was during the pandemic. The fact that you can stay safe, not expose yourself to COVID, and click and connect with quality care. That was lifesaving for many people, especially underserved people. The clinic that I work with is in Los Angeles. There’s a huge gap between the underserved population versus the affluent people. Most patients don’t even have a car or money to take a bus.

I think telepsychiatry, and telemedicine in general, have built a very strong bridge. The care that wasn’t even being provided before is now in the palm of your hand or your home office. Mental health is really a thing that’s getting worse. We’re getting more mental health problems and psychiatric illnesses, and the fact that people can click and get help decreases stigma, increases connection and the personalization of work. It’s here to stay. I don’t think it’s going to go away because if it does go away, it’ll hurt the health of the country.

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

A. I would just say jump into it. It seems scary at first because of the lack of connection with colleagues. You are in either your home or office, probably by yourself, that part is scary. My advice would be to stay connected with either your fellowship bodies or residency bodies – you can even stay connected virtually. You can even do super visual supervision. I think my advice is not to lose that connection with your location and your local colleagues.

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. López-Rosario. If you’d like to learn more about working for Iris Telehealth, contact us today.

How Bridge Care Services Help Hospitals Address Short-Term Mental Health Needs

Ensuring patients with a mental health diagnosis get the best short-term care possible after their hospital visit is essential. In fact, clinical best practices and various guidelines recommend that 100% of patients leaving the ED with a behavioral health diagnosis should receive follow-up within the first seven days. However, that process is done less than half the time nationally.

For health systems, solutions like Bridge Care Services can help deliver the quality, short-term care needed to support effective patient outcomes and experiences. But, how does bridge care work, and how does it help ensure patients get the care they need in a way that’s financially and organizationally sustainable for health systems? Keep reading to learn more.

Want to jump ahead? Feel free to navigate this piece using the table of contents below:

The challenges hospitals face with short-term behavioral health care
Why patients benefit from short-term care after discharge
The power of high-quality care and support after discharge
Short-term behavioral health care in action
Where Iris Telehealth fits in

The challenges hospitals face with short-term behavioral health care

When it comes to meeting the needs of patients with behavioral health diagnoses, hospitals, and health systems face challenges related to behavioral health staffing and the ability to provide timely, efficient care. While many patients need care, there aren’t enough providers to facilitate treatment. Currently, hospitals face staffing challenges for case managers, licensed clinal social workers (LCSWs), psychologists, and psychiatrists.

Additionally, pulling together a safe discharge plan can be exceptionally challenging for case management teams, especially if the patient isn’t plugged into an outpatient team. If patients can’t access effective follow-up care after discharge, hospitals may experience an increased risk of readmission, and patients may be more at risk of worsening symptoms. For example, if patients aren’t set up with a provider who can help with medication or therapy (or both) upon discharge, they may risk relapse of unsafe behaviors and medication non-compliance.

Despite these challenges, setting up a solution like Bridge Care Services, for short-term care can help promote positive patient outcomes. This solution fills short-term gaps in ambulatory and post-acute behavioral health care by accelerating access to specialists, achieving measurement-based outcomes, and optimizing reimbursement for a financially sustainable behavioral health program.

Why patients benefit from short-term care after discharge

Patients who enter the post-acute referral queue need care that’s more efficient than what’s offered in traditional outpatient care. These patients are at particularly high risk when they move from intensive acute care to wait for their next outpatient appointment. Ideally, these patients should be seen quickly upon discharge. However, due to a lack of resources and extensive waitlists, they may end up waiting for long periods to see an outpatient provider or may need to return to their primary care provider for a follow-up appointment.

When these patients leave the hospital system, they’re often starting medications or getting medications adjusted. These patients need close follow-ups with labs to ensure they’re tolerating their medicines at the right dose.

Additionally, there are a lot of stressors that come with being discharged. For instance, the hospital creates a very structured environment for the patient where they receive three warm meals daily, have housing, and have supportive people surrounding them. However, when discharged, they may be sent back to the environment that initially triggered them, or did not optimize structure and support needed for on-going recovery and healing.

Treatment isn’t complete once a patient is discharged. While their symptoms may have improved with their current treatment plan, they must be continually assessed, monitored, and potentially adjusted at a lower level of care. All of these considerations make short-term care essential.

The power of high-quality care and support after discharge

A dedicated bridge care program solves access at scale. When a hospital or health system has an extensive referral queue, this solution helps patients get care in a timely manner. Bridge Care Services bridges the gap with short-term care and helps ensure patients can be safely managed by their primary care provider or can safely land with a long-term behavioral health provider.

Here are a few keys to success that Bridge Care Services offers:

  • Financially sustainable programming: Hospitals and health systems can have a financially sustainable program by leveraging a billable navigation assessment and driving top-of-license care.
  • Top-of-license work: At Iris Telehealth, we’ve seen health systems leverage psychiatrists for visits that could be handled in a lower level of care. In some cases, primary care providers refer patients to psychiatrists who could be seen by a therapist or a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP). As a part of the navigation assessment within bridge care, this solution helps ensure everyone is working top of license.
  • Improved clinical care and outcomes: By providing quality, timely care to patients, bridge care improves patient symptoms, reduces hospitalization and escalation of care, and ensures patients are getting better sooner and don’t drive escalations into high acuity levels.
  • Turnaround time for follow-up visits: Bridge care helps ensure visits happen quickly and make it a quality measure. When assessing, the rule of thumb is to see a patient within seven days of discharge.
  • Pool of resources: This solution helps the inpatient team know they have a pool of resources for the patient when they’re trying to arrange follow-up appointments. If there’s a gap, these resources ensure the patient has a safe landing out of the hospital/outpatient setting.
  • Warm hand-off for patient care: Effective communication during the hand-off is crucial for success. At Iris, we use the same electronic health record (EHR) as the healthcare organization, and can help ensure the assessment and notes are documented for the primary care physician and therapist.. The hand-off ensures seamless communication and updates the next provider on the treatment plan, including medication adjustments and patient progress.

Short-term behavioral health care in action

Effective short-term care requires dedicated providers who can deliver appropriate care to patients for approximately 90 days following the initial assessment. For patients who require medication management, effective short term bridge care can include three total visits – one 60-minute initial consultation and two 30-minute follow ups. For those requiring therapy services, many patients require six sessions over the 90 days.

By working with a telehealth solution that is technology-neutral and can integrate into an organization’s patient outreach process, healthcare organizations can seamlessly ensure patients receive the short term care they need to address their mental health conditions and develop treatment plans as needed.

Here’s what people are saying about utilizing Bridge Care Services at their organization:

“One of the biggest advantages was gaining access to a national pipeline. It can be tough to recruit in a rural market, and now we can get talented providers in the door much quicker than before. As a result, we got 20 or so highly talented, very bright and motivated providers on our team in a matter of months.”

Benjamin C. Gonzales, operations manager II, virtual care, at Geisinger Health

Where Iris Telehealth fits in

Bridge Care Services helps ensure patients can manage their symptoms and reach an improved state where they can live a happier, more balanced life. If you’d like to learn how you can best support the patients seeking mental health care in your hospital or health system, contact us today!

How to Advance Mental Health Access with Community Resources and Collaboration

When working with populations facing barriers related to social determinants of health, utilizing resources in the community, combined with telehealth, can help connect them to the behavioral health treatment they need.

Jump through the table of contents below and learn how to increase access to mental health services:

The role of social determinants of health in behavioral health care
Types of partnerships your organization can leverage
How remote providers can connect patients with local resources
Where Iris Telehealth fits in

The role of social determinants of health in behavioral health care

Access to quality behavioral health care is vital to a patient’s health. However, many individuals and families struggle to get the care they need due to social determinants of health (SDOH). Here are a few ways SDOH can impact mental health and quality of life:

  • Finances: More than 1 in 5 patients need assistance to afford their prescription medication. Medication adherence can be a challenge for uninsured patients with costly medication or for those who have insurance that doesn’t cover prescription costs. In some cases, patients have to choose between paying for groceries, their prescriptions, or rent when faced with high prices.
  • Housing Insecurity: Patients who move around a lot due to housing insecurity can face more challenges receiving consistent mental health care. For example, patients often need a home address to qualify for special assistance programs, which can affect their ability to afford treatment. Additionally, many services patients spend time applying and preparing for become obsolete without housing stability. For children, moving around a lot can be disruptive to their education.
  • Food Insecurity: Food insecurity is associated with a higher risk of anxiety and depression. When patients can’t feed themselves, their physical and mental health is impacted. Malnutrition leads to a greater risk for chronic health conditions, which can also increase the risk of depression and other behavioral health care challenges.
  • Education: Receiving immunizations can be a significant barrier for undocumented children, as they often require showing proof of citizenship. When children are forced out of the school system, they lose out on many resources that the education system provides. A lack of education can impact social support, health literacy, and can contribute to poor mental health outcomes.

Let’s take a closer look at the type of partnerships organizations can leverage to help make a positive impact on patients experiencing SDOH.

Community resources to leverage for social determinants of health

Partnering with stakeholders and organizations in your community to fund programs can have many benefits for your patients. While many of these partnerships are non-traditional, innovative efforts through collaboration can improve healthcare outcomes. Here are just a few examples of organizations for potential partnership opportunities:

  • Government: Local governments serve as a vital resource for external funding. They can advance health equity by sharing valuable data on which populations in your community experience worse health outcomes. This information can give insight into the distribution of resources and what resources are available. Additionally, by attending meetings hosted by local government, healthcare leaders can become thought leaders and key stakeholders in the community.
  • Faith-based organizations: Churches, temples, and other religious congregations can improve care delivery and quality of health care for many community members. A religious congregation provides a place to access treatment and preventive services without fear of discrimination or government interference. This advantage is especially helpful for immigrants or refugees who have established trust within their religious community. For example, sometimes child and adult immunizations can be offered at a community’s local faith-based organization without a need for IDs and other paperwork.
  • Educational organizations: Universities, colleges, and schools are a great way to disseminate health and mental wellness resources to the community. Coordinating with schools could look like hosting events together, directly offering mental health services on campus, or developing joint programs to promote student access to health care. Workshops and seminars allow an excellent way to educate students on relevant mental health topics.
  • Mission-based organizations: These kinds of organizations include National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) or Mental Health America (MHA) for broad mental health resources, the Trevor Project for LGBTQIA+ youth to support specific underserved populations, and more can expand your organization’s knowledge base and your network. For example, partnering with a mission-based organization that helps veterans can be an effective way to connect with veterans who need mental health care.
  • Community organizations: Food banks, social services, and other community organizations can provide beneficial partnerships. Additionally, connecting with cultural community organizations allows providers to share mental health resources that meet the specific needs of that community.

It’s also essential to attend community events and encourage your on-site providers to do the same.

How remote providers can connect patients with local resources

Telehealth meets SDOH head-on by connecting patients with providers regardless of where they live. Having a provider that provides specialty care, while also helping their clients stay connected with local resources, can help improve outcomes that have the potential to be impacted negatively by social determinants of health.

For remote providers, staying connected to the community they serve can be achieved by being flexible, creative, and proactive in their approach to care. As a healthcare organization, you can encourage your providers to stay connected with their patient’s local resources.

A few ways your providers can achieve this connection is through signing up for newsletters, following local government on social media, and staying informed on the most recent information and events in the community. While telehealth can make providers physically incapable of being there, they have options to connect with their community and stay in the know virtually.

Where Iris Telehealth fits in

At Iris, we partner with communities in need of mental health resources. Through partnerships with community organizations and stakeholders, healthcare organizations can build programs and services dedicated to address the unique needs of the community they serve, including the implementation or improvement of telepsychiatry services. Partnering with Iris allows members of your community to receive the care they need when they need it. Contact us today if you would like to learn how telepsychiatry can help your community.

EMR Best Practices for Remote Providers

Every healthcare organization has to strike a balance between ease of use and security when it comes to their EMR. And, if an organization is utilizing a virtual solution, like telepsychiatry, there are several special considerations to keep in mind.

Thankfully, there are best practices your organization can implement to ensure your teams are set up for success.

Top five EMR best practices for new users

Whether you’re bringing a remote provider onto your team for the first time or you’re expanding your virtual services, here’s what you can do to help providers get comfortable with your EMR.

  1. Assign a dedicated super user: Training in the EMR is essential. Assigning a dedicated super user gives a provider someone to lean on for immediate support. If a super user isn’t available, allowing the provider to shadow a peer who offers advice and shares templates can also be beneficial.
  2. Provide on-going training: EMRs vary in complexity and can dictate how much training is required. However, having a training plan in place can help create a better experience for patients and providers. Additionally, ongoing refresh training and e-learning opportunities can be helpful and fit nicely into a provider’s schedule.
  3. Conduct a dry run: For healthcare organizations, it’s essential to consider what processes you have built around the EMR and how much your providers know about these processes before they begin using the tool. Conducting a dry run and creating practice spaces for providers can help drive success in the EMR. At Iris Telehealth, our providers go through an entire test run and learn who they should call and what they should do in an emergent situation.
  4. Prioritize the provider experience: Pajama charting is the work in the EMR that happens after clinic hours. As an organization, it’s important to keep track of the amount of pajama charting a provider conducts. If they’re having trouble completing their charting during the day, it’s an excellent opportunity to reach out to them and better understand their experience.
  5. Provide templates: For telepsychiatry, making templates available is crucial. For example, having templates available for psychiatric evaluations can be greatly beneficial. While general templates can be helpful, they’ll likely need to be tweaked for behavioral health usage.

The key to best-in-class EMR support

Supporting your remote providers is essential to their experience of your EMR. When choosing a telehealth partner, one important thing to consider is whether or not they facilitate IT support for their providers.

At Iris, we’re technology-neutral and can seamlessly integrate into your technology. We also facilitate 24/7 IT support to our providers. Because we’re accustomed to the wide variety of equipment and EMRs on the market, we’re well-versed in the types of problems that might occur. Whether it’s an issue with the VPN or the password, we help reduce the frustration that comes along with technology.

Along with provider support, it’s also important to ensure patients have technical support available. For example, if a patient can’t log into their telehealth appointment, it can create another barrier. This barrier can stop them from getting the care they need. That’s why having an effective consumer workflow is crucial.

Considerations for clinicians using the EMR remotely

For clinicians getting familiar with a new EMR, it can be helpful to know what to expect. It’s useful to have insights into the laws, communication, and other patient interactions.

  • Get familiar with badge laws: For healthcare workers, becoming familiar with state-by-state badge laws can be greatly beneficial. For instance, some states require clinicians to wear a badge that displays their name and credentials. These states may also require providers to show their badge to the patient and have it displayed throughout the call.
  • Ensure patient consent: Another thing providers should keep in mind when interacting with patients virtually is ensuring consent. Consent laws can vary by state. Some states may require different language around consent or consent to be visible to the patient within the telehealth application.
  • Communication is key: Generally, the same rules for in-person care also apply to virtual care. However, one key difference is eye contact. While in-person, the patient may intuitively understand that the provider is looking at their computer to take notes, this action may not be clear virtually. That’s why it’s vital for providers to be explicit and let the patient know they’re looking away to take notes. Training and templates can also help providers become better at charting and improve patient connection.

Where Iris Telehealth fits in

With the right processes in place, your telehealth provider should seamlessly integrate into your team, into your workflows, and successfully navigate your EMR. And for them, using the EMR should be no different than if they were physically present on-site. If you’re interested in integrating a telepsychiatry solution into your organization, Iris can help provide the support you need to get started. Contact us today to learn more!

Best Care Practices for Mothers Experiencing Postpartum Depression

For many new mothers, “baby blues” can be a common occurrence lasting up to two weeks after delivery. However, if a mother’s symptoms don’t go away or become more severe, it might be postpartum depression – something 1 in 7 mothers experience. Many cases of postpartum depression in women go unrecognized, but knowing how to identify this condition and connect mothers with the right resources can help increase access to care and get mothers the right help when they need it.

Feel free to jump through the topics of this blog using the table of contents below.

Table of contents
Barriers mothers may encounter when seeking mental health care
How providers can help mothers address their mental health needs
Resources and education opportunities for providers
How Iris Telehealth can help

Barriers mothers may encounter when seeking mental health care

There are many risk factors that can increase chances of postpartum depression, a few of these include: a history of depression and anxiety, lack of support, mothers who carried difficult pregnancies, and mothers of twins. However, it’s important to remember that any person can battle postpartum depression regardless of these risk factors.

Getting mothers the care they need is essential, but gaining this access isn’t always easy. Fortunately, telehealth can help.

Let’s look at a few ways telehealth can help mothers overcome some common challenges they face:

  • Stigma: A study by Frontiers found that as many as 58% of mothers who experience postpartum depression will not reach out for help, with many stating they were to scared to seek help. Whether it’s due to the shame mothers with newborns sometimes feel, or societal stigma, telehealth allows mothers privacy to take their appointments. That way, they don’t have to worry about running into their provider in the community, or someone they know in the waiting room.
  • Social determinants of health: Challenges related to social determinants of health (SDOHs) play a prominent role in keeping mothers from the care they need. Taking time away from their newborns may not be an option for mothers who struggle to find transportation or affordable childcare. Telehealth allows mothers to get the care they need without having to leave their homes. It also connects them to telemental health specialists and postpartum education that may not be available locally.
  • Lack of screening: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists guidelines recommend that mothers receive screening 10-14 days after giving birth to identify and treat postpartum depression. Theses screenings are important because between appointments, it might be difficult for mothers to remember to bring up how they’re feeling. Whether they’re experiencing feelings of hopelessness, discomfort with sharing, or sadness, screenings can help prompt important conversations. Telehealth allows mothers to check in with their providers to address common postpartum concerns before it interferes with their daily life.

Because of the convenience and access to specialty care, telehealth can be an essential resource in providing care and breaking barriers for people experiencing postpartum depression.

How providers can help mothers address their mental health needs

Providers play an integral part in caring for mothers and their mental health. By understanding maternal mental health conditions like postpartum depression, providers can offer quality treatment to mothers going through challenging times.
Here are three ways providers can use to help mothers address postpartum depression and get proper treatment for their mental health:

  1. Addressing stigma: As a provider, addressing stigma related to managing postpartum depression can help mothers feel more comfortable discussing the condition more openly. Opening up the conversation and emphasizing how prevalent postpartum can be can help mothers feel less alone in their experience. It can also help decrease the probabilty that the mother will internalize the struggle and not seek care.
  2. Educating mothers about their options: Postpartum depression is treatable. By getting mothers involved in education ahead of time and letting them know what to look for during pregnancy and after delivery, it can be easier for them to reach out for help from their providers. From a mental health standpoint, having a child can impact the whole family, and providing education and resources along the way can be beneficial for everyone. For example, let mothers know about support groups, hotlines they can reach out to, and organizations like Postpartum Support International (PSI), Health Resource and Services Administration, and other local resources in their community.
  3. Reach out: Remind mothers that they also need to care for themselves. Having a solid support system is necessary to get through the stress of a new baby. A support system could look like a partner, family member, or friend. As a provider, you can help your patients assess their current support system and encourage them to reach out when necessary. Reaching out to the mother’s pediatrician can also help assess how the mother and the baby are feeling.

Resources and education opportunities for providers

There are many resources for providers looking to learn more about maternal mental health care. Clinicians can further improve the care they provide by learning about specific issues that mothers, children, and families face when there is a postpartum diagnosis or risk.

Here are a few resources that can help you provide quality care to mothers:

  • Postpartum International Certificate Trainings: Postpartum Support International has multiple certificate training programs for providers looking to learn skills related to assessing and treating perinatal mood disorders. There are options for small group discussions, supplemental reading, and live sessions for certificates.
  • 2020 Mom Trainings: 2020 Mom, a national maternal mental health non-profit organization, has a series of training that include eight live sessions, small group discussions, supplemental reading materials, 16 continuing education credits, and a certificate of completion.
  • March of Dimes’ Professional Continuing Education: March of Dimes, an organization committed to maternal and child health, has many continuing education opportunities for healthcare providers caring for birthing persons. Certain CMEs include strategies to increase screening during the perinatal period, identifying risk factors and signs for maternal health disorders, and the impact of maternal health disorders on the mother, baby, and family.
  • Postpartum Support International (PSI) Webinar: This webinar talks about the range of maternal mental health disorders. In this 90-minute free webinar, PSI shares information about the prevalence, signs and symptoms, and recommended treatment options.

How Iris Telehealth can help

At Iris, we help organizations implement telehealth into their practice so they can help more people get the mental health care they need. We connect your patients with clinicians who have experience managing postpartum depression. Contact us today to learn how you can implement a telemental health program that can help the families in your community!

Dr. Paul Vance Shares His Advice on Managing Work-life Balance as a Telemental Health 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. Paul Vance.

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

A: I worked in a community mental health center for about a dozen years, and in 2016 I decided to move to the West coast with my family. My daughter just graduated high school. I loved the job I came from, but I didn’t like the job that I went to in Oregon. We’d already purchased a house, and at that point, you’re stuck. I looked around and found Iris. I’d had a great job for about 12 years and then a not-so-great job for 18 months. I didn’t look at Iris as “I hope they hire me.” I looked at Iris instead, asking, “am I going to work there, and will I enjoy it?”

I had a great interview and then looked on the internet about what other providers were saying about Iris, and it was positive. I initially joined Iris thinking I would do it until I found something else I liked, but I rapidly fell in love with Iris and haven’t looked elsewhere.

Q. How does telepsychiatry compare to in-person work?

A: I’m working at a community mental health center in Mississippi, and before, I worked at a community mental health center in person. The jobs are very similar to each other. The difference is, safety-wise, my wife is a lot happier where I’m working now. In 12 years, I’d taken a gun from a patient who pointed one at me, a box cutter, and a set of knives. I did a lot of state hospital step-downs and court-ordered treatment, and many times people weren’t very happy with you when you’re doing that. I don’t have that problem now. I don’t have to worry about someone following me home or knowing where my kids are going to grade school.

That’s a big difference. It’s just simply safer from that point of view. The other part that’s different from it is you have a lot more time. I walk into work at 8:50 or 8:55. Before it would’ve been 8:15, I would’ve left the house. I probably wouldn’t have gone to the gym before work because it was too long to drive. Then you have to shower. Time-wise, you may work the same number of hours, but you save several hours per day just simply not doing the stuff you did when driving someplace. As far as working with nurses and patients, you all forget that you’re on a computer. I send pictures to the nurses of my dogs. They send me pictures of their kids. It goes back and forth. It’s about the same as what it is when you work in an office.

Q. How do you foster connection with patients virtually?

A: I think fostering a connection virtually is easier. That may be due to the patient load I like treating. I like treating people with severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder. These patients are often more comfortable because you’re not in the room. They like the idea that they’re by themselves. You’re not going to see them in the community. I was quite surprised by that. But, often, it’s just simply easier, and that goes for patients without severe mental illness, too. Quite a few patients are more comfortable talking to you when you’re not there rather than if you’re actually in the room with them.

That means sometimes giving you personal information they might be more uncomfortable giving. For example, I think it’s easier for someone to say, “I do methamphetamines” and “I drank a lot of alcohol,” if you’re not there. I think it’s surprising for me. At first, I thought it would be difficult to connect, and it’s actually far easier.

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

A: I helped lead a lot of other physicians when I worked at the community mental health center. One thing is you have to have interests that don’t have anything to do with being a physician. I’ve been married for a long time. We have a freezer full of mushrooms that we pick from the woods. We do a lot of gardening. We forage for plants. We hike our dogs. We’ve coached soccer, cross country, and track. I’ve helped a couple of teams win state championships. It’s more about having an interest that you’re simply interested in. That way, when you finish work, you don’t sit down and veg out but are excited to do something else. That’s part of it.

And then the other part I’ve seen this with virtual physicians and then in-person physicians is, if you’re not organized, if you don’t finish your notes quickly, and practice writing notes well, what happens is you’ll see many physicians spend several hours after they finish work on notes. That doesn’t have anything to do with the computer, but that drains you.

I always make sure my notes are done before taking a break at lunch. Before I finish work at the end of the day, I’m done. And usually, if the work shift ends at five o’clock, I’m walking out the door by 5:05. Organization comes with it.
The last one is what I always tell patients. You should treat yourself as well as you treat your dog. Feed it well. Walk it every day. Get it up on time. Make it go to bed on time. Just live a healthy life, which helps you have an outside interest.

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

A: I like seeing people get better. When I entered medicine, I figured out pretty quickly that a lot of the specialties I simply did not want to do because they were focused on treating disease. I see people with severe mental illness, but that’s just a part of who they are. My big focus is I want you to live a healthier life. I want you to be better with your kids. I want you to be better with your community. I want you to get out and move. And when you see patients do that, to me, that’s the most rewarding part.

Q. What do you love about working with Iris?

A: Iris is pretty responsive. That was kind of scary at first because I could say, “Hey, I’m having an issue,” and somebody would call me within about three minutes. I wasn’t used to that. They’re interested in ensuring you’re happy, the clinic is happy, and everything is running smoothly. I was used to working in the community mental health center, where you have to throw a fit to get your computer fixed. That hasn’t happened with Iris. It just simply happens. I say, “I’ve got a problem,” and they fix it.

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

A: It’s already happened that way for the most part. If you’re in a rural community or live in an inner city, you will only get mental health care if you have a psychiatrist that’s being remoted in. I work in two towns in northern Mississippi, and their nearest physician is in Memphis. I think it’s an hour and a half away. They’re not going to do that. Many people don’t have cars; if they do, they can’t make an hour and a half drive. I grew up in a small town of 1,500. We never had a physician in the town. You never went to the doctor because the nearest physician was an hour away, and I grew up on a farm. That didn’t happen. Everybody’s moving to the cities, and those inner cities will need care, and telemedicine is the only way it will be provided. Then the rural communities are the same. For the people who are deciding to stay there, telemedicine is the only way they’re going to get care.

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

A: The big advice I would give is very practical. I have three screens. I look at the patient on one screen, and I have a second screen off to the left and a third screen off to the right. That’s the smallest advice you could give, but having an adequate screen, a keyboard that works, a mouse that you know, where it is, and having your printer where you can reach it, are crucial. I’ve talked to one other psychiatrist doing virtual, and I could see them looking at me because they were close to the screen, which meant I knew they had a small screen. That doesn’t work. The best thing is to organize your workspace, which is different from seeing a patient in person.

I wouldn’t even have the screen if I saw a patient in person. I wouldn’t even have a computer or a keyboard sitting in front of them. That part’s different. Office organization is the most important thing. Then, the other which I did with both sites is do whatever you need to do to have the site you’re working with allow you to access their medical record before you start working. Those two are practical.

On the flip side, it’s far easier to be organized in telepsychiatry than in person. You don’t have charts that you’re fooling around with. When you close the record out, it’s closed. That part makes it easy. You can take notes on the desk on the paper beside you if you need to. That part is easier, but it’s really not good if you’re not organized.

Q. What are some benefits you’ve found from working remotely?

A: I entered the relationship with Iris reluctantly. I was looking desperately to keep my house and still be able to work and not move. The only thing I would’ve done differently is I would’ve probably looked for Iris several years earlier. I can’t believe the lifestyle change in a very positive way. I hike every single day. I missed one day the last year in the national forest.

I moved from Oregon to Kentucky while working for Iris. Four years ago, when I moved from Kentucky to Oregon, I had to change jobs. I had to make sure all kinds of things were just done. When I moved from Oregon to Kentucky, I was still employed with Iris. It was simply a matter of taking a week’s vacation and plugging myself into a new room. That was such a lifesaver. It was unreal as far as timewise, money, and everything else. We may move again, but it’s easy when you’re not changing work.

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. Vance. If you’d like to learn more about working for Iris Telehealth, contact us today.

How Bridge Care Services Helps Fill Short-Term Care Gaps to Ensure Effective Patient Care

Meeting behavioral health patients with timely support, appropriate care, and proper follow-up is essential to their care journeys. Unfortunately, finding the right care isn’t always easy. Between provider shortages, increased demand for mental health treatment, and social determinants of health, patients may spend a lot of time waiting for care without ever receiving the support they need.

Thankfully, Bridge Care Services can help. Keep reading to learn more about how bridge care can help connect patients with the right provider in a timely manner, so their care can be as effective as possible.

Table of contents
Bridge care 101
How Bridge Care Services works
The benefits of Bridge Care Services
Where Iris Telehealth fits in

Bridge care 101

A dedicated bridge care program can help support health systems via a virtual bridge clinic that deploys a measurement-based model to fill short-term gaps in behavioral health care across the continuum. It can also help patients with a behavioral health referral get timely, high-quality care and appropriate treatment and follow-up.

Keys to success:

  1. Augmenting behavioral health access: Any system struggling with its referral volumes needs a mechanism to augment its clinical bandwidth to reduce its backlog – whether that means optimizing existing resources or leveraging a third-party partner like Iris Telehealth.
  2. Financial sustainability: Health systems have to maintain financial viability for any program to stand the test of time. A bridge care program should be designed accordingly and optimized for reimbursement.
  3. Care navigation: Clinical recommendations that direct the patient to the right type of care, from the right type of provider.

Additionally, by leveraging telehealth for a bridge care program, organizations are better positioned to help their entire population, including those who live in hard-to-reach areas or those who might be dealing with transportation barriers.

How Bridge Care Services works

There are four components that make up Bridge Care Services and help more people get the care they need.

Here’s how those components work to support health systems:

  • Care pods: A care pod is a team-based approach to care that enables collaboration between social workers, therapists, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, and
    psychiatrists to ensure they can work together towards the best possible care for their patients. This teamwork allows the clinicians to share their expertise when needed and work together when managing a patient’s behavioral health care.
  • Navigation assessments: A navigation assessment walks a patient through their journey to ensure they get where they need to go. This process looks at the patient’s needs through focused, biopsychosocial, and evidence-based questions. Based on the assessment, the patient is quickly triaged to the appropriate level of care.
  • Short-term care: Effective short term care requires dedicated providers who can deliver appropriate care to patients for approximately 90 days following the initial assessment. By working with a telehealth solution that is technology-neutral and can integrate into an organization’s patient outreach process, healthcare organizations can seamlessly ensure patients receive the short term behavioral health care they need.
  • Closed loop hand-off: Effective bridge care ensures the facilitation of a seamless patient handoff from short-term care back to their PCP or community behavioral health provider for appropriate ongoing treatment. This facilitation helps set up both the patient and the health system for appropriate long-term success and helps prevent patients from falling through future behavioral health gaps.

For a more in-depth look at how Bridge Care Services works, download our whitepaper.

The benefits of Bridge Care Services

With the immense need for care, health systems are overwhelmed. Thankfully, Bridge Care Services can help organizations with the influx they’re experiencing, provide additional support, and continue providing the highest quality of care they’re accustomed to delivering to their patients.

When implemented properly in a health system, Bridge Care Services can help:

  • Support organizational quality measures
  • Increase patient satisfaction
  • Decrease provider burnout
  • Retain patients within the health system
  • Keep patients in the referral queue out of the ED
  • Support attainment of HEDIS measures
  • Reduce 30-day readmission rates
  • Promote referring provider satisfaction

Bridge Care Services helps provide a transformative process for health systems, their teams, and the patients they serve.

Where Iris Telehealth fits in

At Iris Telehealth, we believe patients deserve access to high-quality behavioral health care. That’s why we walk with them throughout their care journeys to help ensure they get the most effective care possible. If you’d like to learn more about our Bridge Care Services program, contact us today or download our whitepaper.