Sacramento, California-based Sutter Health and New York City-based Quartet are teaming up to improve patients’ overall well-being.
Through the collaboration, Sutter physicians will use Quartet’s technology to help mental health patients access the right specialists. Because mental and physical health are intertwined, the organizations will work to better deliver care to those in need.
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This type of approach is much-needed given the current healthcare landscape.
Almost 50 percent of the U.S. adult population has a chronic physical disease, and two-thirds of those individuals have an accompanying mental health condition, according to Quartet. These patients can end up costing the system.
The need is even more prevalent in the Sacramento area, where ED visits due to mental health conditions are about four times the rate of U.S. and California benchmarks, according to the Sacramento Region Community Health Needs Assessment.
“If you have these patients who have anxiety and they’re coming in and being admitted to the ER, they’re taking up time in the hospital that could be dedicated to someone that has a more acute emergency,” Quartet president and COO David Liu said in a phone interview.
Quartet’s platform strives to do more than help mental health patients get access to the proper care. It also connects physicians to behavioral health specialists, thereby forming a collaborative team environment.
The cloud-based platform “allows [physicians] to create a care team environment that hasn’t really been there,” Liu said. “When you do this through our platform, you have an integrated, digital way to have these two parties work together asynchronously and synchronously to move the patient on the path to being healthy.”
Quartet is integrating its technology into Sutter’s EMR, meaning physicians can make a referral for patients directly through the system. After making the recommendation, PCPs and mental health specialists can jointly chart a patient’s progress and compare notes.
Sutter Medical Group and Sutter Medical Foundation will initially pilot the technology in the Roseville, California, area.
Moving forward, what does success in this endeavor look like? Liu said it involves Quartet meeting Sacramento’s behavioral health needs.
The company also hopes its technology will improve Sutter’s operations. But ultimately, it comes down to helping patients get the right care.
“We’re going to offer [Sutter] the right solution to meet the patient where they are,” Liu said. “If we’re handling that in partnership with them, they’re able to reallocate their resources in the appropriate way.”
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