OLYMPIA FIELDS, IL | by Francine Knowles | September 8, 2019
Original article can be found at: https://www.chicagotribune.com
Olympia Fields-based Aunt Martha’s Health & Wellness was awarded a $136,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to expand services that enable patients to meet with healthcare providers using live video and audio.
The funds will be used to provide primary healthcare services and assist patients in managing their diabetes, said Raul Garza, president and CEO of Aunt Martha’s, which is a federally qualified health center serving roughly 65,000 patients and clients yearly. Such centers are community-based healthcare providers that receive federal funds to provide primary care services in underserved areas.
The services, called telehealth services, will be provided through secured lines using “web-based, cloud-based technology,” Garza said.
“It allows the patient to communicate visually and orally with a provider from their home into an Aunt Martha’s clinic,” he added. “So that really gives the patient a lot of flexibility and the access they would need to improve their healthcare because we are bringing the healthcare into their home through a virtual technology. The patient doesn’t have to be seen in the four walls of our clinic. They can be cared for right out of their home while they’re in their homes.”
A specialized electronic health app will enable diabetic patients to report daily sugar levels to a registered nurse care coordinator via smart phone or home computer. The coordinator will provide real-time feedback, Aunt Martha’s representatives said.
“It means that we can help manage patients with diabetes much more effectively,” Garza said. “They are able to check themselves at home and get back to us via the technology.”
The services will enable patients to meet virtually face to face with a physician.
It “will be groundbreaking not only for Aunt Martha’s but for the federally qualified health center industry,” Garza said.
Aunt Martha’s chose to focus in part on diabetes with the grant funding opportunity because “it’s a very pervasive diagnosis with our patient population,” said Garza, 55. “Research shows the best effective way to manage that diagnosis is to really wrap ourselves around that patient, and in order to do that, we have to be able to bring the services to where the patients are. We are making it so the patient doesn’t have to get into car and drive to us to better manage their care.”
About 6,000 to 7,000 of Aunt Martha’s patients are diabetic, Garza said.
Aunt Martha’s has 23 clinics in Illinois, including sites in Chicago Heights, Harvey, Hazel Crest, Blue Island and South Holland. It provides a wide range of services such as primary healthcare, care coordination, dental, substance abuse, community wellness and other services. It is one of the largest providers of dental and behavioral services among community health centers in Illinois, Garza said. Most patients have low incomes with just under 80% of the patients receiving Medicaid and about 20% having no health insurance, he said.
Aunt Martha’s has been a pioneer in telehealth services. It became the first federally qualified health center to provide telepsychiatry services, which uses video to communicate with patients for psychiatry services in Illinois 13 years ago, he said.
“Ninety percent of services we provide for psychiatry are through telepsychiatry,” he said.
The new telehealth services will be piloted and expanded throughout Aunt Martha’s network, according to representatives.
Garza, who was reared in Sauk Village, is a member of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Healthy Children and Families Transition Committee and the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Telemedicine Task Force.
He has served as CEO at Aunt Martha’s for 10 years. He joined the organization in 1993 first serving as chief financial officer after serving 10 years in the U.S. Air Force as an executive and budget officer. He later became Aunt Martha’s chief operations officer. Under his leadership, Aunt Martha’s has focused on providing value-based, integrated care, he said.
“Care integration has been a hallmark of the organization, so for example, when a person comes in for a cold or flu, we will screen for mental health,” he said. “Why? Because we know that diagnosis is very pervasive with this population. We work to get a good sense of the patient holistically. The more we can assess the patient up front, the more we can better manage their overall healthcare.
“We’ve also really tried to embrace principles of value-based care, and what that means is can we demonstrate that people are getting healthier in our care and are we driving down the cost of care,” he added. “Healthcare represents 19% of the U.S. economy. That is not sustainable. So, as healthcare providers, we have to figure out how to get patients healthier” while driving down costs.
Aunt Martha’s prescription for care has produced positive results. It ranks in the top 25% nationally for health quality outcomes, Garza said. As for costs, the average price tag is $990 for a patient who is seen at a federal qualified health center, he said. In Illinois, it’s $766, while at Aunt Martha’s it’s $608, he said.
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