Telehealth enables clinic to reach more patients with convenient nutritional and behavioral support from home
Use Case: Behavioral Nutrition
The Challenge
Behavioral Nutrition is a holistic eating disorder outpatient clinic that treats adolescents and adults using behavioral therapy and nutritional counseling. The clinic has five locations spread out among Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Florida, New Jersey and Texas as they continue to grow to serve those across the US.
The clinical team was looking to provide convenient nutritional support to patients who needed help but were deterred from scheduling a session due to being located several hours from the office. How could Behavioral Nutrition reach these patients and provide increased session availability without requiring a commute? Additionally, with the onset of COVID-19, the team needed a way to provide support in a safe, socially distanced manner, ideally enabling patients to receive treatment from the comfort of their own homes.
The Solution
Behavioral Nutrition turned to Let’s Talk Interactive for a convenient, cost-effective telehealth solution. In addition to enabling clinicians to see patients located in remote regions, LTI’s telehealth video conferencing suite seamlessly integrated into the team’s workflow. “From secure video sessions with patients, to document completion and storage, to efficient and accurate note-taking and payments prior to the patient’s appointment, the technology’s impact went well beyond our team’s initial expectations,” said Nicole Romano, founder of Behavioral Nutrition.
Since leveraging telehealth, clinicians have more availability to provide one-on-one consultations as opposed to spending time completing and filing paperwork as part of the case management process. Clinicians also have the option to conduct virtual appointments from their homes, which allows for more flexibility in scheduling time with patients.
Results
“Although the pandemic played a major role in influencing our decision to incorporate telemental health as part of our service offerings, many of our patients now prefer telehealth sessions. They are able to save time and money on transportation while continuing to uphold family responsibilities, avoid taking time off from work, and eliminate time in a waiting room. Our telehealth sessions also offer a safer option for clinicians and patients by reducing potential infectious exposure as COVID variants continue to evolve," shared Nicole Meyer, RD, LDN Clinical Outpatient Dietitian at Behavioral Nutrition.
Behavioral Nutrition is also hearing that patients experience reduced social anxiety with areas of the treatment process. For example, patients feel more comfortable conducting sessions from their home, and they appreciate the ability to complete food exposures and eat a meal with their clinician from their own kitchen.
Moving forward, Behavioral Nutrition plans to continue to leverage telehealth as a key piece of their treatment and recovery process.
Approximately 50% more patients were impacted compared to before telehealth sessions were offered
More treatment options for patients - resulting in a 30% increase in patients due to distance no longer being an issue
80% reduction in no-shows
Reduced social anxiety (15% reduction among those that have a history of social anxiety)
**Featured In
“Let’s Talk Interactive’s solutions have enabled us to consistently support and see more patients than ever before. The technology has removed barriers to receiving care – patients are no longer missing appointments due to illness, weather conditions, and the commute. Virtual sessions also enable the organization to support patients from all over the states in which they serve.”