CHEYENNE — Cheyenne Regional Medical Center announced Monday that it will be launching a new program to provide in-home care services.
The goal of the Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) program is to provide more timely care and increase the efficiency of the hospital’s service. This kind of program is relatively new and only in place at a handful of hospitals across the country.
“Mobile Integrated Health is really kind of a new movement within health care, in general, that is really centered on being able to provide appropriate care to patients in a way that’s convenient for them,” said CRMC Director of Trauma and Emergency Services Jared Skagen, who will oversee the program. “... I think it’s the future in a lot of ways. But we are kind of cutting edge, so to speak, and really early adopters of this idea.”
For Skagen, the main goal is to improve access to care.
MIH is slightly different from the existing CRMC Home Health Care Services. This will focus on more short-term care catered to the immediate needs of the patient, rather than long-term care that Home Health Care Services provides many of its patients.
“We’re seeking to meet a different patient population in terms of a little more acute intervention and acute situations that wouldn’t be an ongoing thing. So, typically, home health care is a service that is for someone who is receiving treatment for quite a long time. They need some type of medication assistance or showering assistance, things like that over a long period of time. And we’re looking probably in a more acute window after a post-discharge, or for a chronic condition that’s having an acute exacerbation to evaluate those quickly.”
For example, if a patient is discharged post-operatively after a heart attack, MIH will follow up with them on a scheduled basis to ensure they are recovering appropriately, getting access to their medications appropriately, and have the necessary services and appointments lined up.
To begin with, MIH’s care will serve cardiology patients, with plans to expand into pulmonology and other chronic conditions. Anyone who is a CRMC patient will be eligible for the program.
“We’re hoping, in conjunction with our outpatient cardiology clinics and some remote monitoring that is being done, that we would be able to intervene quickly, under the provider’s guidance and our assessments, and provide some treatment, less treatment, but sufficient enough to be able to keep them out of the emergency department and inpatient admissions,” Skagen said.
The program’s coverage area will extend throughout Laramie County, with some exceptions related to travel time.
A Kaiser Family Foundation report found that 33% of residents ages 18 and older didn’t have a personal doctor or health care provider in 2019 in Wyoming, higher than the U.S. average of 23.3%.
Skager said he is hopeful this program will increase the amount of coverage the hospital is able to provide and provide a more efficient alternative to treatment.
“The way that health systems are now, it can sometimes be difficult to get same-day appointments with providers. So, providing an additional resource to be able to see and evaluate patients in a timely manner in their home, and be able to provide treatment to them and assessments and connect them to resources in a more timely way, is one of the big goals of our program,” Skagen said.
CRMC is buying two vehicles for the program, certifying existing employees to provide care through MIH, and will possibly look to hire more employees to support the program in the future.
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Noah Zahn is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s local government/business reporter. He can be reached at 307-633-3128 or nzahn@wyomingnews.com. Follow him on X @NoahZahnn.
