Virtual Health Program Promotes Access to Care for Vulnerable Patient Populations During Pandemic

A nonprofit healthcare organization based in south Florida was struggling with staying safely connected and adapting to the needs of its most at-risk patients during the pandemic. The organization is a multi-site federally qualified health center that provides primary, behavioral and substance abuse care by combining prevention, disease control, consumer education, research and evidence-based clinical services.

The provider independently applied for and successfully secured funding under the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) COVID-19 Telehealth Program. The program falls within the FCC’s broader objective of “keeping Americans connected to health care,” and was initially funded by the CARES Act. It provides limited-duration reimbursement funding for specific virtual health hardware, software, and service charges in support of promoting access to care, particularly for at-risk and rural populations. In order to maximize the program potential, the provider needed to rapidly identify, award and activate a virtual health solution.

BDO’s Solution  

BDO partnered with the provider to rapidly facilitate the selection and deployment of a virtual health solution that coupled telehealth and remote patient monitoring (RPM) for an underserved population, while simultaneously determining how to enhance the functionality of its current electronic medical records (EMR) platform.

BDO led the process to evaluate multiple telehealth and RPM providers and conducted a rigorous comparative analysis of vendor qualifications, including a review of platform capabilities, user experience ratings, connected device performance and the lifecycle cost of implementation.

Upon selection of a vendor, BDO co-facilitated a rapid deployment that resulted in active patient engagement within 8 weeks with expansion to 500 patients. In addition, BDO provided initial logistical and program management support services as the provider expanded their internal team.

BDO collaborated with client leadership to develop the metrics to evaluate the impact of integrating tele-medicine into their care model. After determining which metrics to use, BDO developed a monthly dashboard and trained the client on maintaining it themselves.  

Results

BDO helped innovate patient care for the organization by optimizing workflows, establishing reporting dashboards and creating a solution to optimize systems to overcome the challenges of a dual-EMR platform.

Additional results included:

• The delivery of 2,400 telehealth services/month
• A reduction of hospital and emergency room visits with a target of 15% reduction by YE2021
• A reduction of in office visits with a target of 85% by YE2021

BDO Knows Virtual Health

BDO is uniquely equipped to partner with organizations to rapidly design and deploy telehealth solutions. We provide strategic advisory and digital transformation services, including visioning, program management and performance tracking to ensure your solution meets both immediate and long-term virtual health objectives. 

For more information on the FCC’s efforts to connect Americans to Health Care, please visit their website.