Hi Team –

 

I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the glorious summer weather over the weekend. It provided a nice reminder that better, brighter days are not only coming, they’re here! And as we slowly turn the corner from this two-year COVID pandemic to a more manageable endemic “new normal,” our major focus at TriHealth returns to actively building our own better, brighter days through our work to Get Healthcare Right. And I will be devoting much of this and future Weekly Updates to discussing how we are doing just that!!!

 

Speaking of our work to Get Healthcare Right, a team of Joint Commission surveyors arrived at Good Sam this morning to begin our triennial accreditation survey. The surveyors will be at Good Sam Hospital and other Good Sam licensed facilities, including Evendale Hospital, all week. We look forward to showcasing the exceptional talents and skill of our world-class team of nurses, doctors, and other clinical and support staff, along with the amazing progress we have made in Getting Healthcare Right. Magnet surveyors also arrived today, but “virtually,” to conduct our every four-year re-designation survey as one of the few systems in the nation to receive Magnet System Designation. So, we have lots of opportunities to shine this week!

 

As I have said many times, our nation’s healthcare system is broken…. and TriHealth is leading the way to fix it! The United States spends more than any other country in the world on healthcare, yet consistently ranks at or near the bottom of high-income country healthcare system rankings by independent organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and others, based on criteria including life expectancy, infant mortality, and access to care.

 

So, six years ago, TriHealth embraced a bold vision to Get Healthcare Right by setting out to build an integrated healthcare delivery system aligned around the Triple Aim + One...better care, better health, and better value, PLUS an enhanced work and practice environment for team members and physicians. The goal was to build a system of care that would consistently provide patients with the right care in the right place in our care continuum at the right time to achieve the right and best health outcomes for the right cost. And look how far we have come!!! Today, TriHealth, in partnership with our physician community, is the top-performing Accountable Care Organization (ACO) in Ohio and among the best in the country – which means our patients are measurably healthier and the cost of care is more affordable at TriHealth!!

 

So given the importance of this work and how it will shape what’s ahead for our team and our system, starting today, I will be devoting space in my Weekly Updates to provide you with timely news about our plans and progress to deliver on the Triple Aim + One. These updates will take a closer look at what we are doing to advance and mature our Population Health Care Models & Financing Mechanisms, further develop and broaden our Aligned Physician Community, and grow our High-Value Network of Hospitals, Ambulatory Campuses and Service Lines. Today, I’m excited to share what we are doing in Behavioral Health as one example of how TriHealth is Getting Healthcare Right for our patients and community – with many more innovations and success stories to come in future Weekly Updates!

 

The psychological and emotional effects of the pandemic brought to light the growing health crisis in our country – mental illness – that has too often been overlooked, undertreated, and underfunded. The burden of mental illness in the United States is among the highest of all diseases, and behavioral health disorders are among the most common causes of disability. Yet while these disorders occur in 1 out of 4 adults, they are often untreated or ineffectively treated. Today, mental illness ranks as the 11th major cause of death among all age groups and the second leading cause of death among people age 25 to 34. This tragic situation contributes to billions of dollars in unnecessary healthcare utilization, and the avoidable loss of millions of lives worldwide each year.

 

Thankfully, because of our success as an ACO, we are generating millions of dollars in shared savings that we are now able to reinvest in essential services that are not reimbursed well or at all, including behavioral health, preventive care, care coordination, and advances like precision medicine, to name just a few. And that’s exactly what we’re doing – with the following innovative success story in Behavioral Health to show for it...

 

Recognizing the vital need to transform and integrate behavioral health services into our population health care and financing models, TriHealth established a Behavioral Health Task Force late last year, co-led by Dr. Dallas Auvil and Judy Mitchell. The mission of the task force was to design a care model that would expand our clinical capabilities in the ambulatory setting to ensure all patients in need have seamless access to high-quality behavioral health services. And thanks to the generous support of our partner and sponsor, bi3 (Bethesda Inc.), TriHealth pioneered over the past several years a best-in-class prototype for Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care.

 

With the success of this prototype, TriHealth will now be investing millions annually from our shared savings to scale up and dramatically expand the Integrated Behavioral Health model to all 36 of our Adult PCP locations, as well as other ambulatory patient populations across Pediatrics and Women’s Health, and our Medicaid patients served at the Good Sam Faculty Medical Center and Bethesda Family Medical Center.  

 

The TriHealth Integrated Behavioral Health model puts the patient’s total health and well-being at the center of our care model and wraps the right services around them in a collaborative way – in the right place, at the right time to improve health outcomes and affordability. The model is designed to proactively identify patient needs by embedding comprehensive behavioral health assessment and treatment capabilities within the ambulatory setting. For less severe conditions (approx. 75% of cases), treatment is provided right in the office, often during the same visit when seeing their primary care provider. What makes this care model work is the collaboration between the physician or advanced practice practitioner, an embedded behavioral health consultant, and a psychiatrist, which allows providers to treat the behavioral health issues, and any underlying health issues, all in a multidisciplinary outpatient setting.

 

For more severe illnesses (approx. 25% of cases), we are creating a combination destination and distributed Behavioral Health Center of Excellence to provide more intensive in-person and virtual behavioral health services throughout our large network of care sites. The Center of Excellence Program will utilize psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, psychologists, and licensed clinical social workers to treat patients with conditions too complex or severe to be seen in the ambulatory office setting. With this collaborative and integrated model of behavioral health care, we will be able to offer every patient timely access to the very best care delivered in the right place, at the right time to deliver the right outcomes for the right cost.

 

Our plans call for phasing in the implementation of this Integrated Behavioral Care model over the next 18 months, with plans to add up to 50 new positions during this time, including five psychiatrists and a team of Behavioral Health consultants, including counselors, psychologists, advanced practice practitioners, LPNs, RNs, Care Managers, and Care Navigators. A BIG shout out to our sponsor, bi3, for helping us to make these essential investments that are enabling TriHealth to Get Healthcare Right!

 

In the coming weeks and months, I look forward to showcasing other powerful ways we are working together to achieve the Triple Aim + One as One Team, TriHealth Strong! Thank you for all you do for our patients, our community, and each other!