At first sight, mobile integrated healthcare can look like a dense jungle. It’s hard to know where to go, what to do, or if you’re on the right path. And nobody wants to walk off a cliff accidentally. In this guide, I’ll discuss how to get started with the proper mobile integrated healthcare approach to implementation and how to avoid getting lost.
Wondering where to start with Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH)? The first step is understanding the various forms of MIH. After learning about the MIH options, it’s wise to look carefully at the area you plan to serve – what are the significant issues? Who needs the most help? What community health resources are already available?
Below, we’ll answer these questions. Wondering where to start? Start right here.
What is Mobile Integrated Healthcare and How Does it Work?
To begin, let’s consider what mobile integrated healthcare does. If you’re curious, you can read this article, which provides a simple definition of MIH.
Here’s a single sentence that describes Mobile integrated healthcare: a way of delivering healthcare to the neediest areas of a community through the collaboration of local public health agencies.
That’s a fairly broad definition, so let’s provide a few examples.
Consider an area where one of the most prominent issues is drug abuse. To tackle this issue, a mobile integrated health task force of paramedics, physicians, and police officers might work together to solve the problem. How?
First, a protocol is put in place that integrates the members involved. Then, if there is a 911 call related to drug use, the task force will mobilize. A paramedic might respond before the police (only including law enforcement if necessary). Then, as the paramedic is caring for the person, they will contact the physician in real-time, making decisions about treatment and transport destinations.
But what about several days after the person overdoses? What about compounding mental health struggles? What if they’re homeless? What if a patient won’t stop calling 911? These questions will come up and must be answered when navigating community paramedicine.
In the next section, we’ll discuss some subcategories of MIH.
What are the Most Common Kinds of Mobile Integrated Healthcare Programs?
Understanding how to navigate MIH requires understanding what these programs can do. In this section, we’ll discuss some of the more common iterations of mobile integrated healthcare-community paramedicine.
When many people hear “mobile integrated healthcare” or “community paramedicine,” a single type of care might come to mind. It’s important to understand that mobile integrated healthcare can be much more than a fall risk program or triaging 911 calls.
Indeed, mobile integrated healthcare is only limited by the determination of a community to solve their health issues. Keeping an open mind is vital to navigating the most common MIH trials.
Here are some examples of community paramedic programs:
- Post overdose response teams: Post overdose response teams (PORT) will respond to a person within the first several days after they’ve experienced an overdose. These programs are typically voluntary. You can read this article on post overdose response teams for more information.
- Chronic illness treatment: Many patients with diabetes or CHF require regular care. MIH teams will visit their homes and help manage these chronic issues.
- Mental healthcare teams: MIH teams will respond to mental health calls to help reduce police involvement and deliver more definitive care to patients struggling with psychological illness.
- Care for people experiencing homelessness: In some cities, MIH programs respond to the needs of the homeless population. These programs help reduce the spread of disease and increase overall public health.
- Treatment of super-utilizers: Many patients call 911 or go to the ER more often than others. MIH teams can respond to super-utilizers and help reduce costly overuse of the emergency system.
- Alternative destination programs: In many cases, ambulances transport everyone to the emergency room – usually, this is inefficient. Alternative destination teams will coordinate with physicians to transport patients to urgent care, rehab facilities, and PCPs offices.
Now that you know the tools available to MIH teams, let’s look at strategies for starting a successful program.
How Does Someone Start a Mobile Integrated Healthcare Program?
Starting an MIH program is, in many ways, like starting a business. If you’re curious, you can look at our guide on how to start a community paramedic program – this will give you many of the details.
This section will discuss general strategies for starting a mobile integrated health team on the right foot.
Here are some strategies to consider:
- Perform a needs assessment
- Seek funding early and often
- Get as many people on board as you can
Let’s look at these in more depth.
Perform a Needs Assessment for Mobile Integrated Healthcare
The first step is to ensure you’re planting mobile integrated healthcare in fertile ground. How do you do this? You determine the area of most need in the community.
In some cases, a needs assessment is a complex and in-depth study of an area’s strengths and weaknesses in healthcare. Hospitals often perform a broad scope needs assessment of the community they will serve.
For a mobile integrated healthcare needs assessment, you want to understand the community’s struggles. Attending town halls, talking with community leaders, and performing surveys of community members are good ways to hold your fingers on the pulse of the people.
Essentially, you want to diagnose the community before you begin diagnosing patients. If you start a program to manage drug abuse, but the community’s real issue is with chronic disease management, then your program won’t be on a firm foundation.
Seek Funding for MIH
After a needs assessment, you need to take the time to find funding for the community – this is among the principles to establishing an MIH program. If you’re curious, read our guide on seven ways to fund a community paramedic program for an in-depth discussion. Some top options initially include grants, partnerships, and allocating money from your organization’s budget.
Form Community Connections to Build an MIH Program
If mobile integrated healthcare were a person, community connections would be the blood. Connections are essential to the front-end delivery of care and the back-end administration and funding. You can read this guide on how to form better connections in the community, which will discuss strategies for reaching out to hospitals, clinics, and other health organizations.
How to Sustain a Mobile Integrated Healthcare Program
After you’ve started a mobile integrated health program, how do you keep it going? How do you take the program from the idea stage to a real and working system? Well, there’s good news: for the most part, sustaining a mobile integrated healthcare program requires that you repeat the steps to get started.
However, you should consider several other tools to help you navigate MIH.
Here are several ways to sustain an MIH program:
- Collect good data: The first thing you can do (after you start an MIH program) is begin collecting data. If you don’t track what you do, then you won’t be able to learn from your mistakes. Also, you won’t have proof of your successes! Collecting good data is essential to pruning and developing your MIH program.
- Make tweaks as needed: Make a plan, but don’t be afraid to make changes. If something isn’t working, it’s probably time to change. Becoming too attached to initial ideas can lead to stagnation – for better or worse, the world is changing rapidly, and sometimes we have to change with it.
- Look for opportunities to grow: While “sustaining” a program might be your goal, always keep your eyes open for opportunities to grow. This will help you keep your ideas fresh and ensure that your program remains pliable – there will be new health concerns in the future, and we should always be receptive to new opportunities and ideas.
Bonus: Look at what other programs are doing. If you feel alone as you begin your journey, consider contacting other MIH programs nationwide. Sometimes, you can learn from other programs by looking at what they did right. If you’re curious, look at the Colorado Springs MIH team as a successful example.
Now, let’s go over a few final thoughts.
Key Take: Successfully Navigating Mobile Integrated Healthcare-Community Paramedicine
Navigating a mobile integrated healthcare program takes work. At first, getting the program off the ground can be challenging – and then you need to think about how you will sustain the system. However, if you work hard, you can build positive momentum that leads to real change.
Start by surveying the needs of your local landscape, then consider funding and partnerships. Finally, take time to collect good data, make changes as you go along, and look for opportunities to grow.
Contact Julota to see how their cloud-based software platform will help you collect good data, form community connections, and navigate your MIH program in the long term.