Utilize Health helped a Nashville couple recover from a tornado. The process included … (+)
On its website, Utilize Health describes itself as a “company that improves the health and well-being of people with neurological conditions while reducing the overall cost of care.” Promising a holistic approach to treatment, the company says it offers “a better way to manage complex neurological conditions from diagnosis to the chronic stage” through personalized programs that use “comprehensive risk tools and treatment plans.” In short, Utilize Health is determined to be there for people in a world-changing moment when “endless information is provided without a map or directions.”
The mission of Tennessee-based Utilize Health is important to Christine Black. Black, who serves as the company’s vice president of business development, explained to me in a recent interview that she is caring for her husband after he suffered a “severe spinal cord injury” that left him “reliant on a ventilator.” This life experience makes her unique in that it gives her an up-close look at everyday neurological care. Black reiterated Utilize Health’s mission, telling me the company is a “care management company that supports individuals living with complex neurological conditions,” such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and more.
The impetus for Utilize Health’s work is to provide people with a solid plan of action after they are diagnosed with a neurological condition in the hospital. Often, Black says, patients are told the diagnosis while they are still in the hospital; the problem arises after they are discharged. Then, Black says, “the onus is on patients and their families to try to navigate everything.”
Of course, “everything” is just as overwhelming as the diagnosis itself: This includes things like insurance, medications, financial limitations and many “puzzle pieces” that Black says often leave people spinning their heads if they don’t have the right support to help them put it all together. Utilize Health aims to be that buffer.
“There are not enough case management teams to support them,” Black said of the problem of patients and their families needing a stronger support system. “Because of the many nuances of the conditions themselves, there are so many different factors at play: social determinants of health, physical function needs … many different areas. People need the help they’re not getting from their doctors.”
Black’s comments are not exaggerated or over-the-top in the slightest. Utilize Health, she told me, has spoken to both patients and providers – including primary care physicians and specialists – to identify problem areas in the field. There is a “huge gap in the market” for patients with neurological conditions that require complex treatment. Given her husband’s needs, Black is well aware of that gap.
“I can confirm that care coordination is necessary,” she said.
As with most things digital accessibility, Black said that while Utilize Health could exist in a parallel universe where technology and the internet weren’t as dominant, in reality it couldn’t function “as effectively” without them. Technology has opened many more doors, not just in terms of access, but the rapid spread of information and connectivity; Utilize Health can do what it does because everyone is so connected today. Black also noted that the company has developed tools for people struggling with depression and other comorbidities. The essential part of technology’s role in Utilize Health’s operations is really scale; without access to tools like electronic medical records or EMRs, the company’s effectiveness would be compromised — and that’s saying nothing about the accessibility of something like Google, which helps families find services like Utilize Health for their loved ones. The biggest downside, as Black was adamant, is that Utilize Health currently operates in Tennessee and only Tennessee.
If you are a Tennessee resident suffering from a neurological condition and need help, Black says Utilize Health is “The option” when it comes to coordinating care on a large scale. There are similarly focused companies that deal with kidney or cancer care, but for those living with “acute or chronic neurological conditions,” Black said Utilize Health is able to provide comprehensive support for those people.
When I asked for feedback, Black told me it was “positive.” He added that Utilize Health has been praised for helping people improve their “self-reported anxiety and depression scores” and meet critical socioeconomic needs like finding work, housing and food. Utilize Health’s care managers are essential to people navigating their daily lives. Black said they are “trusted advocates who help them achieve better health outcomes.”
As for Utilize Health’s future plans, Black said the company is exploring the possibility of contracting with additional health insurers, such as Medicare Advantage, to expand its reach. In general, Black hopes that people with neurological problems will receive “more attention” in terms of care and stronger support. She spoke openly about her personal experience, telling me that it has been “really a struggle” for her husband to find the resources he and his family need, even though he is “highly educated” and family members hold prestigious professions such as doctors and lawyers. Black and her family have struggled to provide her husband with care through home visits. It is easier for Black and her family to pay for in-home care because his extreme needs make it unbearable to put him in home care. In short, it is difficult for Black and everyone else to meet “all of her husband’s needs.”
“If we as a society can aim to provide care that takes into account the whole person and their family – and meets them where they are at home – that will lead to better care experiences overall,” she said.
Black continued, “Many health plans I’ve spoken to have really robust case management and care management departments. But the problem is that their members often don’t trust them because they’re denied various services by those payers. I think companies like (Utilize Health) and others that do third-party care management add value because we become a trusted source. I think it’s in a (health plan)’s best interest to separate care management and other insurance offerings because, as I mentioned, they make the critical decisions for approvals and the things their members need. Members often withhold information and don’t want to work with insurance because there’s a back-and-forth between member and payer. That’s where care management companies like ours can add a lot of value by becoming a trusted source for members.”
