Conduit Health Partners, a health care solutions company focused on improving care and access to care, has recently begun providing nurse triage services to four Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC): Unity Care NW in northwest Washington; Tuolumne Me-Wuk Indian Health Center in Sonora, California; Kenosha Community Health Center in Wisconsin and Clackamas Health Centers in Oregon. With these four combined FQHCs, Conduit is a key partner in providing high-quality care that is easily accessible to people of all ages, regardless of their health insurance status and their ability to pay.
“We are honored that our registered nurses can provide timely clinical expertise to more than 40,000 patients across four states, to help them get the right care at the right time,” said Cheryl Dalton-Norman, president of Conduit Health Partners. “At Conduit, we believe every person should have accessible, affordable, high-quality care, and supporting our federal safety-net system through nurse triage services is one way we can do our part.”
FQHCs are federally funded nonprofit health centers, or clinics, that care for traditionally underserved populations, and are an essential part of the health care safety-net in the U.S. FQHCs provide primary care, dental and behavioral health services, and have a common mission of enhancing primary care services to underserved urban and rural communities. FQHCs are required to offer nurse triage services as a way to address staffing shortages and streamline care.
“We are excited about our partnership with Conduit Health to provide our patients with more timely access to quality nurse triage and nurse advice,” said Shanon Hardie, chief operations officer, Unity Care NW. “We particularly like Conduit Health’s Nurse First Model, which means our patients get to speak with a nurse right when they call in.”
Conduit Health Partners nurse-first model combines Schmitt-Thompson support tools and clinical expertise to deliver safe recorded telephonic assessments that lead to quality care advice and best-practice recommendations based on each patient’s unique needs. Conduit’s collaboration with these four FQHCs will help patients make informed decisions about handling various health and wellness concerns and connect them with the appropriate resources.
“Our nurse triage services help alleviate the $47 billion a year that unnecessary ER visits cost the U.S. health care system,” said Dusti Browning, MSN, NE-BC, vice president of client solutions for Conduit Health Partners. “Our 24/7 services help callers avoid unnecessary visits to hospital emergency departments. Because we’re an extension of the health care teams we collaborate with, this allows onsite care teams to focus on in-person patient care. We know that whenever care can be provided in the primary care setting, where the patient is known, continuity of care and better outcomes are achieved.”