SAN FRANCISCO—Included Health, a new kind of health care company delivering integrated care and navigation for people nationwide, announced it will introduce a unique, virtual-to-in-home, care model through a partnership with DispatchHealth, one of the largest providers of high acuity in-home care for complex patients.
Leading with an innovative model to combat fragmentation and advance care delivery, Included Health and DispatchHealth will supplement care that begins online with on-demand, in-home support. The company said this augmented offering will activate the home as a setting to treat everything from common to complex injuries, illnesses and diseases, and offers promise when it comes to reducing unnecessary emergency department visits and better-managing interventions for patients with chronic conditions.
“Connecting virtual-first care to a network of experts who can bring urgent medical services into the home is about serving people’s preferences and needs first, while also better managing the journey and cost of health care overall,” said Ami Parekh, chief health officer for Included Health. “Working with DispatchHealth is an incredible extension to our service, one that will remove the friction, travel and stress associated with visiting a resource-strained emergency room or urgent care center and allow our members to be treated and recover in an often preferred setting—the home.”
Offered as part of a virtual primary care solution and to support members living with chronic, highly complex and high acuity needs, Included Health’s virtual primary care clinicians and care team will be able to coordinate with DispatchHealth’s team of nurse practitioners, physician assistants and emergency-trained medical technicians. In-home clinical services will range from virtual visit augmentation to include things like diagnostics (e.g., EKG, ultrasound), pharma (e.g., IVs, nebulizers) and CLIA-certified lab, to higher acuity and acute needs (e.g., wound, catheter).
"This service expansion will enrich care for employees and members of Included Health partners such as health plans and employers," Included Health said in a released statement.
“As an emergency room physician with more than two decades of experience at the bedside, I saw first-hand that much of the care in an emergency department could be treated just as effectively in an individual’s home and, in many instances, the added context of the social and environmental picture in the home could improve the precision of the care plan," said chief executive officer and co-founder of DispatchHealth, Mark Prather. "With advancements in technology, high acuity care can be delivered in the home at a much lower cost with an enhanced care experience and improved outcomes. We are excited to add our high acuity, in-home capabilities to the capabilities of Included Health, a company that continues to push what’s possible with integrated health care."
Working with DispatchHealth will enhance Included Health’s longitudinal support for members and complement the company’s existing in-person care capabilities across its integrated suite of virtual care and navigation offerings. For additional information regarding Included Health’s full set of member, employer and health plan services and solutions, visit: includedhealth.com/solutions. To learn more about DispatchHealth, which is currently available in nearly 50 markets and covers more than 100 million lives, visit dispatchhealth.com/what-we-treat.
