The healthcare system in the U.S. is incredibly complicated, with patients receiving care from a variety of providers who don’t always communicate with each other. This fragmentation can create problems for patients as well as members of care teams.
In our latest installment of the Paytient Podcast, we’re discussing the realities of modern healthcare with Dr. Rachelle Scott. Dr. Scott is the VP of mental health with Eden Health, a company that unites primary care, mental health, care navigation, and more under a Collaborative Care model. By ensuring employees experience consistent, positive, and meaningful interactions over time with the same care team, Eden builds trusted relationships that lead to greater engagement, increased adherence to care plans, happier employees, and improved health outcomes.
Here are some highlights from our conversation:
Making Healthcare Less Fragmented
“You hit on something about how complex the healthcare system is and just how fragmented it is. Eden really strives to simplify it. Our patients access us one way through the app, and so the app allows us to have conversations with patients and to get them started on their journey. The good thing about that is on the back end of the app, all of the team members are able to communicate with each other — I think that helps to keep the lines of communication as well as collaboration open.”
The Importance of Benefits Communication
“It's one thing to have different types of resources available; it’s another thing to make it more widely known. A lot of employees don't know what types of access they have _ they might hear about it once a year when it’s time to elect benefits and then never hear about it again. So oftentimes you’ll have programs that just go unused because people don't know about them.”
How Preventive Care Pays Dividends
“Sometimes patients are in a position where they have to choose, and they have to make these choices which are almost impossible. But it just delays treatment, so what could have been addressed earlier on winds up snowballing into something then that leads to a different outcome and a different level of care.
“It’s sort of like, how do you treat a cut before it gets infected? [...] If you're able to get someone and screen them and help them get connected to care — whether that’s therapy, whether that's medication, whether that's coaching — before it gets to the point where it requires them to go to the ER or the hospital.”
Physical and Mental Health Aren’t Mutually Exclusive
“People are realizing that mental health affects physical health. [I hope] that people will put the same importance on their mental health as they do their physical health so that when they're having to make a choice, it’s not just like, ‘Oh, it's just my mental health so I can put that on the back burner. But I really am going to make sure that I have that other appointment.’
“We want folks to sort of say, ‘This is my health in general, which includes mental and physical and other things, too. This is my health, so I'm going to make it a priority.’”
Listen to the full discussion via the podcast player below or by clicking this link. If you'd like to connect with Eden Health, you can find them on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and at EdenHealth.com.
