AND MEDS TOO? –

July 19, 2022 – Like many healthcare provider organizations, Groups, a value-based care provider of opioid addiction treatment, had to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic overnight.

THE PROBLEM In order to keep members safe, the organization made the decision to close all 120 of its clinics across the country and transition to 100% virtual opioid use disorder treatment services. To accomplish this, Groups provided its members with a number of different digital health technologies that enabled them to continue their treatment virtually and do all of the form submissions, drug screens and insurance processes that are part of the Groups recovery program.

“Unfortunately, these technologies weren’t integrated and didn’t talk to each other or our electronic health record – meaning they couldn’t serve our members as effectively as we strive to,” said Michelle Cartier, vice president of product at Groups.

PROPOSAL When Groups saw the gap in quality it was approaching with its previous technologies, it took a big step back to reevaluate its virtual treatment services.

“We held focus groups with our members and listened to what they wanted in a care experience – and more importantly, what they felt they were missing today,” Cartier recalled.

“We knew at a minimum we needed to: 1) Reduce friction in the onboarding experience; 2) Make care more accessible and consumable so that members can more easily engage with their counselor and in their group sessions; and 3) Build a direct integration with our EHR in order to reduce the administrative burden on our clinicians,” she said. 

HealthcareITNews