Collab Aims to Improve Access to At-Home, Telemental Health Services

Superior HealthPlan is working with two organizations to close crucial care gaps and address non-medical drivers of health by providing access to telemedicine and at-home care as well as virtual behavioral health services.

As virtual health services become increasingly prominent in healthcare, many organizations are working to improve patient outcomes through these types of services.

Through the partnership with MedArrive and Brave Health, Superior HealthPlan aims to widen access to care outside healthcare facilities and improve the health of its members.

"We're proud to partner with MedArrive and Brave Health on this initiative, which will expand our abilities to provide quality healthcare to many of our members," said David Harmon, MD, chief medical director at Superior HealthPlan, in a press release. "This new collaboration paves the way for hands-on, personalized and integrated services provided by MedArrive and Brave Health, and we believe our members will greatly benefit from this new relationship."

Superior HealthPlan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene, Corp., is a managed care company that covers Texas residents. MedArrive leverages a care management platform to provide physician-led telemedicine as well as at-home care through a network of emergency medical services professionals.

The EMS providers visit program members at home to provide various healthcare services, like diagnostics and health assessments. If a patient requires higher acuity care, field providers can direct patients to telehealth services. They can also help address social determinants of health needs, such as transportation and nutrition challenges.

Under the new collaboration, Superior members will gain access to the MedArrive field and telemedicine provider network. The at-home care program will initially be offered to about 40,000 health plan members with complex care needs.

"For so many, accessing even basic healthcare services is an insurmountable challenge, which leads to poorer health outcomes and higher costs for the whole system," said Dan Trigub, co-founder and CEO of MedArrive, in the press release. "While 'equity' has become a buzzword within the healthcare industry today, it's healthcare organizations like Superior HealthPlan that are walking the talk. We're honored to be working on their behalf, and we're looking forward to demonstrating how our field providers will humanize the healthcare experience."

The new collaboration also includes access to Brave Health's virtual-first behavioral health services primarily focused on Medicaid beneficiaries.

Brave Health entered into a referral partnership with MedArrive in August. Per the partnership, if MedArrive providers believe behavioral health support is needed for a patient, they will connect the patient with Brave Health providers virtually. Conversely, if Brave Health determines that a patient requires home health services, it will connect the patient with MedArrive.

Using virtual care to improve behavioral healthcare access is becoming a common practice.

In July, NYC Health+Hospitals received a grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to support the addition of virtual behavioral health services to its ExpressCare platform.

The health system decided to integrate telemental health services into the ExpressCare platform to treat conditions in need of psychiatric support and provide substance abuse treatment.

The addition also involved the health system developing a tailored version of the telemental health service to care for patients at 25 homeless shelters and six mobile street outreach clinics.