November Newsletter
ORBIT HEALTH
NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER
Happy Thanksgiving from Orbit Health!
Our “spirit of thanks” also comes with a commitment to our core value of “accountability.” We understand the privilege of serving patients, partner organizations, and the community comes with obligations. And because of this, Orbit Health strives to hold itself accountable. Here’s a couple of ways we do that:
1. Tracking patient satisfaction scores
2. Ensuring prompt time-to-first assessment from time to referral
3. Promotion continuity of care with long-term, accessible providers
Q&A with Dr. Charles Chaney
Does telepsychiatry and behavioral health present any advantages in promoting quality care versus traditional, in-person encounters? If so, how?
Yes, most certainly. The two crucial advantages that telemedicine offers over traditional routes of care are access to care and cost savings.
Access
Telemedicine offers superior access to care by allowing patients to be seen in a much more timely fashion, and in locations that are rather remote. Consider:
- Millions of Americans live more than 1 hour from their nearest hospital.
- Countless others are homebound for health reasons.
- Telepsychiatry offers a direct critical channel to mental healthcare for this population.
Millions of Americans live more than 1 hour from their nearest hospital.
Countless others are homebound for health reasons.
Telepsychiatry offers a direct critical channel to mental healthcare for this population.
You can take it one step further and imagine the utility for people who are mobile for extended periods of time. Examples include:
- Maritime industry workers, both civilian and military crews at sea.
- Truck drivers covering vast distances.
- People who regularly travel.
- Even astronauts!
Cost Savings
Telehealth offers significant cost savings to both the patients and health systems:’
- The United States spends around $280 billion annually on behavioral health, which includes mental health and substance abuse treatment.
- About a quarter of the cost of mental health services in 2020 came from the US Medicaid program.
- The cost of mental illness to the US economy is estimated to be around 1.7% of the country’s annual consumption.
Both patients and health systems benefit from reduced costs.
Spotlight: Orbit Health Value of the Month
For Orbit Health, our core value of “accountability,” extends across the entire organization from our leadership team to our care coordinators and providers. Accountability is not only critical to delivering quality care, but it’s also important for providing great service to our clients and team members.
For Orbit Health, our core value of “accountability,” extends across the entire organization from our leadership team to our care coordinators and providers. Accountability is not only critical to delivering quality care, but it’s also important for providing great service to our clients and team members.
Because of this, Orbit Health has implemented quality metrics relative to patient care and client satisfaction. We also measure team member performance using an objective, data-driven approach (another one of our core values). By fostering an “accountable” culture internally and externally, Orbit Health ensures quality care and service is not left to chance but is rather by design.
