Concert Health partners with WellSpan to expand access to mental healthcare

WellSpan patients will be connected to a Concert Health clinician within 24 to 48 hours

Concert Health is a virtual behavioral health that deploys a collaborative care model, meaning it takes an evidence-based approach to identifying and treating patients. The company partners with medical groups and health systems to connect patients with behavioral health services through their primary care doctor, pediatrician, or OB-GYN.

Its latest collaboration is with WellSpan Health, an integrated delivery system serving South Central Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland. Together, the two organizations will work to expand access to same-day, high-quality behavioral health services alongside primary care.

"Our collaboration with WellSpan is an important component of their comprehensive approach to providing behavioral health services. This includes inpatient services, intensive outpatient programs, partial hospitalization programs, telemedicine, behavioral health specialists embedded in emergency departments, and residential care," Spencer Hutchins, CEO and co-founder of Concert Health, told VatorNews.

"Through this partnership, we’re broadening the care continuum and providing primary care providers with an additional layer of support in addressing behavioral health conditions in a primary care setting. This allows us to further meet the needs of their community and expand access to highly accessible, high-quality care alongside the provider patients already trust most."

WellSpan is made up of more than 2,000 employed providers, 220 locations, eight hospitals, home care and a behavioral health organization serving South Central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland.

Patients are regularly screened for depression and anxiety and now, through this collaboration with Concert, if a primary care provider can bring in Concert’s Health team for additional support in diagnosis, treatment, and/or symptom management by placing a referral in the EHR. Concert Health’s Engagement Team will conduct same-day/next day outreach to engage and enroll patients in Collaborative Care, and connect them with referred WellSpan patients within 24 to 48 hours.

Once enrolled, patients will be paired with a Concert Health clinician who they will meet regularly, as clinically indicated, to address their behavioral health symptoms. Clinicians are trained using various evidence-based interventions with patients such as cognitive behavioral therapy, behavioral activation, and motivational interviewing, which are blended in different patient-centered treatment choices, including symptom monitoring, talk treatment, brief check-ins, and medication monitoring. Patients have the option of engaging in care over the phone or via video visits. 

In addition, Concert Health’s psychiatric providers will review patients' cases regularly, providing feedback and guidance to the behavioral health team, making specific treatment recommendations back to the WellSpan primary care provider. The patient experience will also be embedded within the MyWellSpan patient portal.

Concert has spent the last six years building a proprietary patient registry, which helps identify and track symptoms of patients over the length of an episode, and supports clinicians as they work to deliver effective interventions and get patients better. The registry is used to track responses to treatment using evidence-based tools, such as the PHQ or GAD. It can also be used to produce caseload reports and identify trends in care for WellSpan’s primary care team. 

"Concert Health’s approach provides an additional layer of support for both the patient and the primary care provider. After being referred, Concert clinicians meet with patients regularly to track, target, and address behavioral health symptoms. They work collaboratively with the primary care providers to review their patients’ symptoms and provide treatment recommendations, with the goal of improving clinical outcomes," said Hutchins.

This integration with Wellspan follows a partnership with Mass General Brigham announced in October, as well as a recently announced $2.5 million funding grant in partnership with the University of Washington School of Medicine AIMS Center to treat 2,700 patients with bipolar disorder and PTSD in medically underserved areas and medically underserved populations. 

So far, Concert Has treated nearly 100,000 patients across all of it partners and since officially launching with WellSpan two weeks ago, it has already started engaging hundreds of patients in care.

"We’re honored for the opportunity to partner with a forward-looking institution like WellSpan Health. We share an understanding and commitment to whole person health and providing patients with a comprehensive and personalized care program. It’s been great to see the energy and enthusiasm from the front line leaders at WellSpan since launching," Hutchins said.

"Neither organization takes our benefit for granted. We are committed to assiduously track access, clinical outcomes, and patients and provider experience.  Concert Health has already published nine peer reviewed articles (link here), and are excited to collaborate with Wellspan in this area as well."

(Image source: wellspan.org)