Evidence-Based Telehealth Network Grant Program – Cornerstone Whole Health Care Organization
The Georgia Health Policy Center recently spoke to Jacob Wilson, the chief operating officer for behavioral health innovation and community advancement, and Jennifer Yturriondobeitia, the CEO and president, at Cornerstone Whole Health Care Organization about how this grant is expanding access to behavioral telehealth services in Idaho.
To date, what has been the biggest accomplishment or win in your telehealth program?
Jake: The biggest accomplishment is really getting the direct-to-consumer care off the ground, which we were able to do this past year. We went live with the direct-to-consumer behavioral health consultation within a statewide partner network. Among the 56 new patients accessing services, 55 had follow-up consultations after those initial visits. That is definitely a good start, and we see that participation really coming from all sides of the state and from different partners. We know that more need is out there, so now it is about ramping it up in additional communities.
What is a tip or early learning that you would share with an organization launching a similar telehealth program?
Jennifer: When we first started, we were just coming off COVID, which you would think would have ramped up direct-to-consumer telehealth. Unfortunately, I wish we could have said we turned it on and that we were on and going. However, we had to put policies and procedures in place for anyone that was doing telehealth and then also provide them training, which created a delay in expanding delivery of care.
The pool of providers was interesting because even after COVID some providers had not quite transitioned into this tele-behavioral health world. There were some that were not really prepared for it — making sure your background is comfortable for the patient, having good broadband and network security. One of my pitfalls was I thought the ones that were doing telehealth were meeting a certain standard of care and standard of practice, but, in reality, that was all over the place and that was one of the reasons why we really had to sit down and lay out our standard of practice expectations to be part of our network. If there is a crisis, what is their protocol for that? Are they credentialed properly if they are going to bill for this person? There were a lot of barriers we had to remove for the patient. My assumption had been that we could just refer them to so-and-so, but that was not really the case. There was a lot of diversity in quality.
How do you see participation in the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth’s grant program as impacting your broader telehealth or health improvement efforts?
Jennifer: At certain times of the year, patients cannot come into town because of snow or inclement weather. It is very difficult, and it is not just 15 minutes away, it is more like an hour, and that hour between where they live and the clinic, could be quite treacherous due to mountain driving. The overall vision of the grant was exactly what we were looking for because we were trying to figure out better outreach to consumers that wasn’t necessarily tied to a clinic. We wanted to help them access care directly from their home. This grant gave us the ability to do it at a larger scale than we had intended.
What will your organization be doing more of or differently to emerge stronger from the pandemic?
Jennifer: On one hand, I think that the pandemic helped us understand how valuable it has been to use telehealth services, to test some of the technology that is out there, and to be able to collect a little bit more data. I just wish that the payment model would catch up a little bit. I know remote patient monitoring is getting closer, and that is going to be very important for telehealth services. But, sadly, since the peak of the pandemic, I just see some things returning back to what it used to be.
Jake: The ability to offer evidence-based telehealth services continues to be fluid. There are changing regulations and licensure requirements. So, I think our ability to set up the network, the regional telehealth resource center, and other partners in the region and state will help us come together and drive policy change. I think it will be a big part of some of the work that we are doing in the future.