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Integrating Care Teams in a Virtual World
Activity description
The integration of digital health systems into health care practice has expanded the opportunity for timely interactions between health care professionals (HCPs) and patients and, importantly, facilitates a coordinated and cohesive team approach to care that enables many different types of HCPs—including social workers, nurses, physicians and therapists, each with a distinct role—to provide the patient with a seamless and integrated health care experience and continuous guidance throughout the implementation of the care plan. This activity will examine how the multiple aspects of digital health can be best utilized by health care team members to ensure continuity of the patient’s health care journey, meet care plan goals, improve patient outcomes and optimize team communication practices. The ability of virtual health care practices to enable team members to fulfill their roles in clinical decision-making and care plan implementation will be discussed. Important legal, regulatory and reimbursement considerations that pertain to digital practice integration within the health care team will be highlighted.
For more information about the Digital Health Continuing Education Series and future offerings, please click here.
Provided by
This activity is jointly provided by Optum Health Education, Center for Clinician Advancement and Center for Digital Health and Innovation.
Commercial support
There was no commercial support received for this activity.
Required hardware/software
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Target Audience
This activity is designed to meet the educational needs of counselors, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physicians, PAs, psychologists, social workers, therapists and other HCPs who are interested in integrating care teams in a virtual world.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this educational activity, participants should be able to:
- Describe how to successfully implement digital health processes in patient care practices, engage the interprofessional health care team and optimize team member communication in the digital health care setting.
- Identify core principles and practices that ensure seamless continuity of care for the patient when utilizing digital health services and virtual visits.
- Discuss how health care team decision-making processes and the patient’s health care journey may benefit from utilizing digital health capabilities.
- Provide an overview of any applicable legal, regulatory and reimbursement concerns regarding health care team integration with virtual practice and digital health modalities along the patient-care continuum.
 | Moderator |
 | Presenters Tristan Gorrindo, MD Chief Medical Officer for Care Delivery Optum Behavioral Health Solutions |
 | Joshua Higgins, BSN, RN Center for Digital Health | Optum Health |
 | Shawn Long, MD, FAAFP Medical Director, Primary Care Optum Everycare | Optum Health |
About the Moderator
Mark Steiger is a seasoned executive, lecturer and thought leader in the health care information technology industry. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of Optum Everycare, a division of UnitedHealth Group. Most recently, Mark was vice president of clinical operations for Optum’s Center for Digital Health. Previously, he served as senior director of operations for the consumer products division of Ascension Health serving Ascension markets throughout the U.S. from a virtual 24/7 solutions center in Austin, Texas. Mark has rich and broad experience in virtual care, population health, patient access and experience and leading-edge remote clinical surveillance systems and technology.
Mark previously held leadership roles at large public and private outpatient groups. He also helped to develop and is a faculty affiliate with University of Texas’ Health Informatics and Health Information Technology certification program, where he has been a lecturer for 18 successive cohorts. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.
Mark serves the central Texas community through his roles on the Boards of United Way and Thinkery Children’s Museum and as president-elect on the Board of Austin HIMSS. In his free time, he is an avid cyclist and snow skier. He and his husband Tristan live in Austin, Texas, with their 14 year-old beagle Trevor.
About the Presenters
Tristan Gorrindo, MD
Dr. Gorrindo is the chief medical officer of Optum Behavioral Care (OBC), where he is building a novel clinical care delivery system that provides high value and affordable integrated behavioral health treatment. He is a national expert in behavioral health care transformation, particularly as related to value‐based care, the Collaborative Care Model in primary care settings, the use of telehealth to deliver virtual care, the use of medication-assisted treatment to treat substance use disorders and the interprofessional treatment of those with serious mental illness. Dr. Gorrindo has served on numerous national stakeholder committees, has authored over two dozen peer‐reviewed papers and has given over a hundred national and international presentations. Dr. Gorrindo completed his clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and he is a practicing, board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist in Washington, DC.
Joshua Higgins, BSN, RN
Mr. Higgins in a registered nurse by background and training, with experience in emergency care and urgent care. He began his career with Optum with MedExpress nearly 10 years ago as a staff RN and quickly moved into a lead RN role. In 2017, he was promoted to an area manager of clinical operations with MedExpress, covering multiple states and areas. This role had a strong focus on clinical quality and clinical support. In July 2021, he joined the Optum Everycare Now team as the manager of clinical operations. He assisted in building a clinical team comprised of RNs, virtual health assistants and their supervisors, and he continues to lead that team today.
Shawn Long, MD, FAAFP
Dr. Shawn Long is a board-certified family physician as well as a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He had more than 20 years of experience as a physician with leadership roles in both the academic and community health center settings before he joined Optum Everycare as the primary care medical director. He currently oversees the provision of care for Optum Everycare (now known as the Primary Care service line), which includes a behavioral health collaborative care model.
Activity planner
Elizabeth Albert, MD
Clinical Activity Manager
Optum Health Education
Disclosures of relevant financial relationships
In accordance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education's (ACCME) Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education, Optum Health Education (OHE) requires all those in control of educational content to disclose their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. Ineligible companies are defined by the ACCME as companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing health care products used by or on patients. Individuals must disclose all financial relationships, regardless of the amount, with ineligible companies and regardless of their view of the relevance of the relationship to the education. OHE ensures that the content is independent of commercial bias.
The activity faculty or planners have no financial relationships to disclose.
Method for calculating CE credit
CE credit was calculated by the complexity of content.
Accreditation statement
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Optum Health Education, Center for Clinician Advancement and Center for Digital Health and Innovation. Optum Health Education is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to provide continuing education for the health care team.
Credit designation statements
This activity was planned by and for the health care team, and learners will receive 1.00 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credits for learning and change.
Nurses
The participant will be awarded up to 1.0 contact hour(s) of credit for attendance and completion of supplemental materials.
Nurse practitioners
The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Program (AANPCP) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME and ANCC.
Pharmacists/Pharmacy technicians
This activity is approved for 1.0 contact hours ([0.10] CEU) in states that recognize ACPE.
Attending the full program will earn 1.00 contact hours.
Unique Activity Number(s): JA0007123-9999-22-177-H04-P/T
Physicians
Optum Health Education designates this enduring activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
PAs
The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME.
Psychologists
Optum Health Education is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to offer continuing education for psychologists. Optum Health Education maintains responsibility for this program. 1.00 CE hour.
Social workers
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, Optum Health Education is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Optum Health Education maintains responsibility for this course. Social workers completing this course receive 1.00 enduring continuing education credits.
Counselors and/or marriage and family therapists
CA: The Board of Behavioral Sciences has deferred CE course approvals to APA and ASWB for its licensees. See those approvals under Psychologists and Social Workers.
Other States: If your state is not specifically listed, nearly all state Counselor and MFT boards accept either APA or ASWB approval, or are reciprocal with other state licensing board approvals, such as those listed below. Check with your board to be sure.
Attendance
A certificate of attendance will be provided to learners upon completion of activity requirements, enabling participants to register with licensing boards or associations that have not been pre-approved for credits. To apply for credit types not listed above, participants should use the procedure established by the specific organization with which they wish to obtain credit.
Available Credit
- 1.00 ACPE - Pharmacists
- 1.00 ACPE - Pharmacy Technicians
- 1.00 AMA - Physicians
- 1.00 ANCC - Nurses
- 1.00 APA - Psychologists
- 1.00 Attendance - General Attendance
You must be logged into your account to participate in this activity. Get started by clicking "Continue" and viewing “Integrating Care Teams in a Virtual World”; then follow the prompts at the bottom of the screen. At the end of the activity, you will be able to view, save or print your certificate of participation. A complete listing of all of your activities can be found under “My Account,” “My Activities.”