Partnership to Provide Remote Access to Musculoskeletal Care Services

Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) has partnered with IncludeHealth to implement virtual and at-home musculoskeletal (MSK) care services, with the goal of providing a hybrid care model for patients battling orthopedic conditions.

Based in Connecticut, YNHHS provides care in more than 100 medical specialties and includes four hospitals.

The new collaboration with IncludeHealth will combine the company's Musculoskeletal Operating System (MSK-OS) and the YNHHS in-person orthopedic services. MSK-OS is a device-agnostic platform that integrates body-tracking technology with proprietary clinical intelligence and tools to deliver virtual MSK care.

Through the hybrid care model, YNHHS clinicians can offer patients an interactive virtual home exercise program that supplements in-person services. Once the clinician prescribes an exercise plan, the patient can engage in the plan using any device with a front-facing camera, the press release noted.

IncludeHealth built this tool in collaboration with Google and early clinical partners. Between 2021 and 2022, MSK-OS was deployed in various clinical settings alongside physical therapy, orthopedics, and health system partners.

MSK-OS is a HIPAA-compliant cloud-based digital platform. Through this tool, clinicians can access patient objectives and movement data.

Further, the platform allows the clinical team to plan how to use virtual care for the patient's personalized treatment plan. Clinicians can engage in both synchronous and asynchronous interactions with patients and adjust care plans as needed.

“We are grateful to partner with such a well-respected clinical organization as Yale New Haven Health,” said Ryan Eder, CEO of IncludeHealth, in a press release. “We are strong believers in a hybrid model of care, putting our technology in the hands of a patient’s trusted provider to strengthen the patient-clinician relationship. We look forward to the impact this will have on patient access and outcomes.”

In the past, hybrid care models have led to high levels of patient satisfaction.

In February, Mayo Clinic released the results of a survey of patients enrolled in the Mayo Clinic Hybrid Care Hotel, a service that began in July 2020 that allows patients to receive care both in person and remotely.

Those who participated in the survey were patients who had spent at least one night in the facility and received a procedure related to ENT, gynecology, urology, cardiology, neurosurgery, and several others.

Researchers noted that satisfaction rates were positive, falling between 87 percent and 94 percent. In addition, 487 out of 558 responders claimed to have had a relatively high level of comfort while residing in the hotel.

Another hybrid care partnership formed in August between Homeward and Priority Health focused on expanding access to healthcare services throughout Michigan. Specifically, Priority Health Medicare Advantage plan members gained access to Homeward’s suite of options for hybrid care under the partnership.

These include using remote patient monitoring to detect medical problems and scheduling an in-person visit at home or a community-based mobile clinic to diagnose the patient and begin treatment.