August 25, 2020, Filed Under: News, UncategorizedSocial Connection: Lessons from the Field Written by: Maria Cowley-Morillo I got my first phone when I was 11 years old. That was 13 years ago, when I was about to enter middle school. The gaudy green flip phone had a limit of 500 text messages per month, and it was strictly for emergencies. My room at the time also had a landline phone in it. Mostly for show, it had a transparent casing that allowed me to see every colorful wire and mechanism within it. I think that was the only reason I kept it in my room – with my flip phone in hand, I certainly didn’t need it for its intended purpose. As I grew older, technology and phones became more advanced and essential for our day-to-day lives. Suddenly, I was a high schooler that was dependent on social media, e-mails, and unlimited games, apps, and text messages. In college, I heard friends and peers complain about having to pick up the phone to schedule a doctor’s appointment or call back home. Now, after college, I keep up with my friends through a screen. Some of my best friends are those that I’ve had since high school; I text them often, but I cannot recall the last time I have heard their voices. I’ve been reflecting on phones, technology, and the power of human connection recently because I’m a Research Associate with Factor Health’s Social Connection program. In a few short weeks, this program has taught me the true value of a simple phone call. The goal of the program is to understand if semi-daily phone calls from volunteers help Meals on Wheels clients, who are typically homebound and elderly, feel less lonely. When COVID-19 hit earlier this year, Meals on Wheels suspended their original food delivery model, where volunteers would visit with clients for a few minutes a day when they delivered hot meals. With this loss of interaction, many Meals on Wheels clients felt a negative impact. This Social Connection program was designed to address feelings of loneliness in a way that keeps volunteers and clients safe. As a part of my role with Factor Health, I have enrolled 215 people into the Social Connection program. These are 215 people from all walks of life with different stories and vulnerabilities. Though these people have never met or even seen me, many of them have openly shared things about their lives that aren’t detectable through a screen. In making these phone calls, I quickly learned that deep human connection happens beyond written words or screens, and this population understands that. During the process of consenting, where I explain the Social Connection program to a potential participant, many individuals have expressed how wonderful it is to have someone who wants to talk to them and how helpful a program like this is in combating loneliness. Our pool of participants is diverse: some of them have no one to talk to, others have some family, and still others have plenty of family but who are only checking in once in a while or through texts. One individual told me, “I hate texting. There is no true connection with texting, but there is something special about hearing someone’s voice through a phone and being able to chit chat with them naturally.” Throughout this process I have learned that no matter how advanced phones get, at a very basic level, they are still just devices—the real magic in a phone is that it allows for two people to connect in a special, meaningful way. Maria is a Research Associate in the Department of Internal Medicine at Dell Medical School. Born and raised in Austin, TX, she recently graduated the University of Texas with a BSc in Psychology. As an undergrad, she acquired over four years of research experience, primarily focusing on how to get individuals to play a larger role in their own healthcare. Within Factor Health she has most recently been working on the Social Connection program, which seeks to improve isolation among the elderly population. Through this work she is influencing care for the most vulnerable in our community.
July 21, 2020, Filed Under: NewsFactor Health and partners develop new program amidst COVID-19 When COVID-19 shut down cities across the United States in early 2020, Factor Health was only weeks from launching our first program with Meals on Wheels Central Texas to support homebound older adults in their homes with medically-tailored meals. In response to city shut down orders, Meals on Wheels stopped production and delivery of hot meals (opting to provide clients with shelf-stable food every 2 weeks) and suspended the social connection component of meal delivery. While they were still able to provide food, Meals on Wheels staff expressed concern that their clients, already home-bound and isolated pre-COVID, would grow even more isolated without the usual friendly connection during meal delivery. Social isolation, a health concern not currently covered by healthcare payers, can produce or exacerbate lasting health consequences like chronic disease and depression. In response to this, Factor Health and Meals on Wheels partnered to create a new short-term program to address loneliness in home-bound older adults during COVID-19. This new program officially launched in July 2020 when Factor Health began training volunteers with tools to develop empathy and social connection. After completing training, volunteers call Meals on Wheels clients up to 5 times per week to check-in and chat for up to 10 minutes. Volunteers work with each client to customize calls to the client’s schedule and to find the right number of calls per week (between 2 and 5) that will meet the client’s needs – this customization is a standout component of this program. The program will end in September 2020, and we will assess how the phone calls impacted client loneliness, measuring a range of mental health and quality of life outcomes through standardized clinically-relevant measurement tools. We expect that the results will inform our other work and will help us further refine another Factor Health and Meals on Wheels program that aims to address diabetes management at home for older adults during less tumultuous times. In addition, we also plan on iterating the loneliness program as a stand-alone offering for health payers in the future.
October 21, 2019, Filed Under: NewsPress Release Austin at the Cutting Edge of a New Business of Health Dell Medical School is bringing together diverse partners – including community-based organizations, health care payers and investors – in new ways to rethink the path to better health for vulnerable populations AUSTIN, Texas — With the ultimate goal of improving population health, a novel initiative launched by Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin is working to shift the focus to health – not just health care – and creatively aligning unconventional partners to identify, prove and pay for drivers of health outside of more traditional settings like clinics and hospitals. Known as Factor Health, the program’s first efforts are focused on well-known health challenges among two vulnerable groups: chronic disease management for home-bound older adults and the mental health impacts on youth who have experienced family trauma. The atypical assortment of players involved, all with a stake in Factor Health’s success, include the Houston-based Episcopal Health Foundation, which invested $2.6 million to launch the program; managed care payers Amerigroup Texas and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas; and Austin-based social service providers Meals on Wheels Central Texas and grassroots youth development organization Youth Rise Texas. “The major gap in all of our talk about health care is that we are failing to address health,” said Mini Kahlon, PhD, Dell Med’s vice dean and executive director of Factor Health. “There are all kinds of organizations that are, today, contributing to better health. The problem is, the healthcare system doesn’t pay them for it. That’s where Factor Health and our team at Dell Med come in.” The Factor Health approach is different, Kahlon said. “It’s about moving beyond traditional, fee-for-service care found in hospitals and clinics, to helping everyone in the health ecosystem – investors, health care payers, community-based organizations, academic medical centers – see themselves and the roles they can play in health differently.” “Factor Health has already been successful in bringing together unconventional partners who are thinking creatively about health outcomes,” said Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, a Dell Med professor and former acting assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Now the challenge is to demonstrate measurable improvements in health. I expect that payers around the country – not to mention other academic medical centers – will be watching with interest.” Demonstrating and measuring success As a first step, the Factor Health team is testing health programs that include an anchor provider, payer partners and a funding partner. The team will work with each to maximize opportunities and enable success, including identifying business needs, finding and vetting relevant partners, defining success metrics, addressing policy hurdles, enabling data sharing, defining health outcomes and collaboratively crafting new payment methodologies. Partners will regularly and collaboratively review results, and plan for payment models based on outcomes to support the program at scale after the demonstration period. Ultimately, the intent is for payer partners to transition to longer-term funders. The first two programs, both funded by the Episcopal Health Foundation, include: Aging at Home: Diabetes Management for Older Adults Anchor provider partner: Meals on Wheels Central Texas Payer partner: Amerigroup Texas This project is designed to help older adults with diabetes better manage their disease at home, thus improving overall health and decreasing the need for expensive (and preventable) emergency room visits and hospitalization. Meals on Wheels volunteers are already delivering specially made meals and providing essential human connection to more than 5,000 of their neighbors in the Austin area. For this project, the Factor Health team will assess the impact of incorporating additional home health assessments, such as measuring glucose levels and conducting depression assessments, as well as referrals and other services that provide real-life support. Resilience for Life: Addressing Mental Health Impacts of Family Separation on High School-Age Youth Anchor provider partner: Youth Rise Texas Payer partner: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas This project is focused on supporting youth who have experienced family trauma, such as separation from parents and family due to incarceration and deportation. Depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies are common among this group, as is self-medication with alcohol and drugs. In an effort to help reduce associated and long-term medical needs, the Factor Health team will support Youth Rise Texas in expanding, scaling and evaluating outcomes for a peer-facilitated, learning and leadership curriculum focused on improving mental health for a group of approximately 150 teens. Factor Health leaders understand that long-term success involves building real-world programs that deliver measurably better health outcomes at scale. Beyond the launch of Factor Health in Austin this summer, the program team is already working to connect organizations, payers and investors in the Houston area. Partner perspectives: “We know that consumer expectations have evolved and people today expect a more customized and seamless experience. As a result, Amerigroup is expanding consumer-centered care delivery capabilities and investing heavily in creating new models that simplify the healthcare experience, make care more accessible and reach people where they are.” – Dr. Cealee Thomas, Medical Director, Amerigroup Texas “At Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, we understand the importance of supporting behavioral health programs for young people facing unique life challenges. We are proud to be part of a program that helps them overcome these hurdles so they can lead healthier lives.” – Janice Fagen, Vice President, Texas Medicaid Operations, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas “Medical care alone isn’t enough to keep many Texans healthy, because it doesn’t address the non-medical, underlying causes of poor health. Factor Health works outside the doctor’s office to find successful solutions targeting the root cause of health issues. The health care system, with its $3.5 trillion annual expenditures, should pay for successful non-medical interventions, because that is what improves health.” – Elena Marks, President and CEO, Episcopal Health Foundation “This is an opportunity to do even more for the people we already serve, and to emphasize the wide-ranging role our volunteers play in improving health and wellness.” – Adam Hauser, President/CEO, Meals on Wheels Central Texas “When a teenager loses a parent to incarceration or deportation, the consequences can be far-reaching, including a negative impact on long-term physical health. We’re looking to break that cycle.” – Kandace Vallejo, Founder and Executive Director, Youth Rise Texas https://sites.utexas.edu/factorhealth/2019/10/21/austin-at-the-cutting-edge-of-a-new-business-of-health/
October 21, 2019, Filed Under: Events, NewsHouston Community Organization Workshops On October 28, Factor Health will host two hands-on workshops with community organizations in Houston. Together, we will share our collective knowledge on the health issues impacting Houston, as well as successes and challenges in addressing social drivers of health in Houston communities. In addition, we will discuss the Factor Health program in detail and what is involved for a community organization to work with us. All 18 organizations invited to participate in the workshops are candidates for the inaugural cycle of Factor Health in Houston. On October 29, the Factor Health team will meet with health care payers and community organizations to prepare for Factor Health’s Houston launch.
