Aspire Health telehealth palliative care program for Medicaid members in need of telephonic palliative care

The Aspire Health* telehealth program provides an additional layer of telephonic support to patients facing a serious illness. The program focuses on ensuring patients understand their diagnosis, facilitating conversations with patients and their families around the patient's goals of care, and ensuring patients receive care aligned with their goals and values.

 

The program begins with an initial 30 to 60 minute telephonic assessment. A specially trained Aspire social worker facilitates the assessment. The conversation focuses on building rapport and completing a comprehensive assessment, including understanding the patient's perception of their illness and current treatment plan. Follow-up calls occur every 2 to 4 weeks, typically lasting 15 to 45 minutes, with the exact frequency based on a patient's individual need. Aspire's social worker is supported by their full interdisciplinary team of palliative care physicians and nurses and community-based pastoral resources who provide additional telephonic support to patients and their families, as needed.

 

Patients enrolled in the telehealth program have access to Aspire's 24/7 on-call support. The average patient is enrolled in the program for 6 to 8 months. The key outcomes are for patients to teach back their current medical situation, articulate their health and quality of life goals, and establish a future care plan by completing advance care planning documents and a transition to hospice when appropriate.

 

More information is available at www.aspirehealthcare.com or by calling the 24/7 Patient & Referral Hotline at 1-844-232-0500.

 

* Aspire Health is an independent company providing telephonic palliative care services on behalf of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.