CHALLENGE
Patient Appointment Adherence & 340B engagement
Hello Smile PMG represents a group of pediatric health practices in New York City that is focused on using innovative design solutions, public-private partnerships, and entrepreneurial approaches to healthcare to help bring the highest possible level of care to all children irrespective of their socioeconomic background.
H2 Design Lab aka Hello LAB creates real-world laboratories where designers, students, teachers, architects, engineers, healthcare providers, and social entrepreneurs from all walks of life come together to design, prototype, and incubate social business models that improve pediatric health. Through academic collaboration with the Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design, and The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, hello LAB uses the “design thinking process” to provide innovative solutions to small and medium pediatric dental and medical practices. Such solutions can be simplified off-the-shelf architectural design tools for new clinics, patient communication material, reward and compliance programs, social media, or alternatives to existing health and medical product and devices.
Its mission is to ultimately help increase access to quality health care in pediatrics through the design and implementation of its products and services that inspire changemakers, connect communities, and engage & empower families and children.
The group has a pediatric patient base of more than 60,000 that they serve through multiple offices in New York City. The patient population is primarily Medicaid customers. Many of the patients have challenges with transportation which impacts them being punctual to appointments or in many cases missing them altogether. The impact on their children’s health can be significant.
Hello Smile also desires to become a covered entity under the 340B program. This will help them to further expand services to the communities that they serve.
SOLUTION
Identify Partnerships and introduce our team
The solution to the transportation challenge is to bring in a transportation partner that works with the Medicaid reimbursement program for New York State. In this manner, the patients can be provided with door-to-door service for their appointments and have the cost covered by Medicaid. Ultimately the children will have improved adherence which will lead to improved dental and medical health. The second portion is to bring in our team of legal, compliance, finance, marketing, and business development to provide the road map for Hello Smile to become a covered entity under the 340B program.
RESULTS
Transportation Partner and Teamwork
Through an intense vetting process, we identified YUR Drivers Network as the optimum partner for Hello Smile to transport their patients’ door to door for their dental appointments. Their knowledge of the Medicaid plan and superior customer service made them the clear choice. With their engagement, there has been a significant impact on the appointment adherence of the Hello Smile patients and their families.
We assembled our team to walk Hello Smile through the rigorous covered entity process. This process is nearing completion as the pandemic has slowed the progression.