Acadian Health has expanded its healthcare services to key Texas regions, including Beaumont, as well as Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and rural areas.
This strategic expansion positions Acadian Health to spearhead unparalleled advancements in medical care, addressing the state’s urgent need for increased healthcare access, particularly among its diverse and rural communities.
Acadian Health is a sister company to Acadian Ambulance, which began providing EMS services more than 50 years ago. Acadian has operated in Texas since 2006.
Acadian Health began providing home-based medical care to residents in Hardin, Newton, Jasper, Tyler, Polk, Orange, Liberty, San Jacinto, Chambers, and Jefferson Counties in June 2022.
Acadian Health’s Care@Home programs are an interprofessional collaboration between health plans, primary care providers, and patients.
Working with the managed care organization, in-network Medicaid primary care providers can now request Acadian Health home-based services, dispatch an Acadian Health paramedic, and connect with their patient via virtual visit. This model helps to reduce unnecessary emergency room visits and help the patient receive appropriate care.
Acadian Health’s home-based services focus on treating applicable illnesses and conditions that cannot be addressed by a telehealth visit alone: respiratory exacerbations, nausea, vomiting with dehydration, non-narcotic pain management, and other potentially preventable events that commonly result in patients seeking care in emergency rooms.
“Bringing this care to the patient allows them to connect with their primary care provider and begin to shift their behavior away from making an ER visit their default method of care. Being a conduit for providers when their patients need them the most has been demonstrated through our data. It not only improves patient and provider engagement, but improves overall health status and decreases patient utilization of hospital-based care, said Acadian Health Director Benjamin Swig.
“This is part of our new innovative out-of-hospital healthcare strategy to reduce unnecessary use of 911 ambulance services and hospital-based care,” said Acadian Health Operations Director Richard Belle.
Through this collaborative approach over the past nine years, Acadian Health has been able to treat 97% of all preventable clinical cases in the home without escalation to an emergency room.
The Care@Home programs have helped numerous patients navigate their health plans. Acadian Health’s mobile health paramedics directly collaborate with health plan case managers during each patient encounter to ensure that patients are appropriately linked with their primary care providers, the services they require and move one step closer to self-management.
“We are able to offer the full array of Acadian Health services, including Clinic@Home and Acute Care@Home, to the people in these counties by contracting with clinics and healthcare providers,” said Acadian Health Operations Supervisor Christopher Heller. “We either work directly with the patient’s primary care provider during acute care visits or health plan case managers during our clinic visits to provide the most optimal care.”
In addition to providing clinical services and coordinating with the patient’s healthcare provider, Acadian Health’s mobile health paramedics form lasting relationships with their patients, and advocate on their behalf for their general well-being.
Mobile Health Paramedic Don J. shared a story of how empathy and advocacy has changed the life of one of his patients. He began visiting a patient at the beginning of 2023 for joint disease and COPD. He recognized that the patient was obese and in need of an exercise program, but he did not know what to do.
Don guided the patient with health and nutrition suggestions, primarily actionable ways to reduce soft drink consumption and increase his water intake. He suggested that the patient start bicycling, but the patient didn’t have a bicycle. Don was able to procure a bicycle for the patient and gave suggestions on starting with short rides and slowly increasing the distance.
The patient has lost more than 100 pounds through the healthy habit changes and exercise regimen. He is now riding nearly 10 miles a day.
With Acadian Health’s ability to track social determinants of health and build relationships with our patients, our team members are able to make impacts that go beyond a clinical scope.
