Montefiore Enhances Behavioral Health Care With Smartphone Technology

NEW YORK, May 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Montefiore Health System added a new element to patient care using Valera Health, a smartphone app and platform, supporting an integrated behavioral healthcare model that facilitates patient engagement using two-way messaging, appointment reminders, tailored educational content, and automated self-assessments. The platform alerts care managers to changes in a patient's condition that suggest the need for clinical intervention and help improve care planning.

At the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting on May 23, 2017, in San Diego, Kelly Carleton, project manager of Montefiore's federally-funded Behavioral Health Integration Program (B-HIP), will report on data from a pilot using Valera Health that began July 2016.  Carleton reports that depression and anxiety scores and remission rates show significant improvement. Additionally, Montefiore's care managers were able to interact with patients three times more than usual and manage caseloads of up to 120 people.

"We are pleased with the results of Valera's technology platform. The patients feel very connected to their providers and the care managers appreciate the efficiency of fewer voicemails and no-show visits," said B-HIP's executive project director, Henry Chung, M.D., vice president and chief medical officer of Montefiore's Care Management Organization. "Most important, the technology allows us to provide high-quality care to more people as we work to integrate behavioral health into primary care. Technology is a great partner in this mission."

The smartphone app is provided to patients receiving collaborative medical and behavioral health care at five Montefiore primary care sites in Bronx, NY as part of the B-HIP grant Montefiore received from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to embed behavioral health into primary care for children and adults. 

"Valera Health is proud of what we have achieved so far with Montefiore. These results are exemplary of what technology can do to scale up an innovative model of care that is critical to address the huge unmet needs of patients who have behavioral health conditions," said Thomas Tsang, M.D., CEO and co-founder of Valera Health.

Valera Health is a health technology company dedicated to providing effective and scalable solutions for behavioral healthcare management. Valera Health combines digital technology, algorithm development, and evidence-based care models to deliver personalized behavioral healthcare when and where it is needed most.

Montefiore Health System is one of New York's premier academic health systems and is a recognized leader in providing exceptional quality and personalized, accountable care to approximately three million people in communities across the Bronx, Westchester and the Hudson Valley. It comprises 11 hospitals, including the Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and close to 200 outpatient care sites. The advanced clinical and translational research at its medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, directly informs patient care and improves outcomes.

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