We're Hiring 👋
Consumers
(866) 971-8986

Virtual roundtable: How hybrid models transform value-based care

Value-based care has revolutionized the healthcare landscape. What are its implications on your engagement strategy? How can you leverage hybrid models to maximize success?
Email this to me
Speakers
Tracy Rico
Tracy Rico
Director of Virtual Care Services
Erika Pabo
Erika Pabo
VP Transformation & Central Operations
Donna O’Shea
Donna O’Shea
VP of Population Health and Value-Based Care
Elizabeth Hyatt
Elizabeth Hyatt 
Director of Payer 
Solutions
This session was a live recording of the Bright Spots in Healthcare podcast. The discussion focused on how hybrid models are transforming value-based care, the importance of meeting patients where they are, and the potential of virtual care to improve access and outcomes in healthcare. 
Key insights:
  • Hybrid models of care, which combine in-person and virtual care, can enhance access to healthcare, improve patient outcomes, and potentially reduce costs. 
  • Ensuring continuity of care in a virtual setting requires effective communication and data sharing between providers. 
  • Hybrid care programs can have a significant impact on underserved populations by improving access to care and reducing healthcare disparities. 
  • Hybrid care can potentially improve star ratings for Medicare Advantage members by enhancing patient experience and care quality. 
  • Meeting patients where they are, both physically and in terms of their healthcare needs, is crucial for the success of hybrid care models.

Adoption of hybrid models is crucial in transforming value-based care

The panelists emphasized the importance of incorporating hybrid models in health care to improve value-based care. They highlighted the necessity of meeting patients where they are and providing care in the most appropriate and convenient channels. Furthermore, they stressed the importance of ensuring continuity of care in these hybrid models by integrating reports from virtual visits into electronic medical records or other mechanisms.  
“Healthcare has to be 24/7 and that it has to include primary care,” said Donna O’Shea. “It’s a slow build, because we’re doing it market by market because we need to offer all the services virtually, but we need to have a backup for when you need to go in person.” O’Shea further emphasized the importance of team-based care that integrates physical and behavioral health, and is connected to the United Healthcare Network. 
Tracy Rico added, “We require a consult file from our vendors that lets us know what happened because it’s really important that it gets back to that PCP so we can form that medical home relationship.” This, she argued, reinforces the relationship between patients and providers, and enables more effective chronic care management. 

Healthcare has to be 24/7 and that it has to include primary care.

Donna O’Shea

VP of Population Health and Value-Based Care

Hybrid models can improve access to care for underserved populations

The panelists also discussed the impact of hybrid care models on underserved populations. They highlighted the need to address disparities in access to care, particularly in areas with a shortage of primary care providers and for populations that are difficult to reach. They also underscored the need to be innovative in addressing these challenges, leveraging tools like remote patient monitoring devices and partnerships with organizations that provide in-person care. 
“We have partnered with a national carrier that was really focused on reducing their cost of care, specifically looking at cost containment for avoidable ER and non-urgent care spend in their commercial fully insured population,” explained Elizabeth Hyatt. “The payer was really focused on having that really quick activation and then conducting a wellness visit very shortly thereafter to focus on patient education and which specific conditions they could utilize the program for.”

Hybrid care models require significant investment to be successful

Implementing successful hybrid care models requires significant investment in technology, process, and people, the panelists noted. They emphasized the importance of making technology as seamless and easy to use as possible, investing time to refine processes to make omnichannel access as seamless as possible, and providing the necessary support for staff transitioning to hybrid care models. 
“With the right supports, I think it will be a significant piece of the steps forward around burnout,” said Erika Pabo. “The more barriers you put up to accessing it, the more constraints you try to put in. If they’re using text, you probably want that to be a way that you can get into your video visit, present it to them in channels that that patient is using already or allow them to get in that way.” 
Tracy Rico added, “We need to go where they are and see what those problems are. So we’re sending paramedics backed by a telehealth provider into homes and we’re actually going through and doing assessments with them and all the SDOH components, all the behavioral health components, all of the care gap components, and trying to figure out all of the pieces that create the concern and the member that’s driving them to go to the ER for everything or to wait until they actually meet it inpatient stay to get care.”