Intermountain Health Enhances Access to Care for Students Thru School Based-Telehealth

School-Based Telehealth programs have been shown to help improve access to care, reduce absenteeism, and support school nurses and families. Intermountain Health has recently expanded these virtual, clinical services through Intermountain Health’s Connect Care team and collaboration with local health providers in Utah, providing acute medical care for students’ acute medical care for students during school hours.

Intermountain Health and other community partners are helping organize and implement the program within Utah schools.

Currently, this partnership is being utilized by Wasatch County School District and is expanding to other school districts in Utah. For example, Canyons and Weber School Districts are piloting the program in some of their highest-need schools.

Intermountain Connect Care is the current provider support model with the intent to include community health providers, as much as possible. This program is open to other healthcare providers in the area who would like to participate, as well.

The School-Based Telehealth program aims to reduce healthcare costs by treating conditions that can be seen through telehealth services. Telehealth is a valuable tool to reduce disparities and provide equitable access to healthcare for families.

Telehealth services have been shown to reduce hospitalization, emergency care and school absenteeism, diminish the financial burden on families and reduce health care costs in general.

To participate in the School-Based Telehealth program, parents sign a consent to treat their child and provide their health insurance information. If they don’t have health insurance, financial assistance for this service is available. A Connect Care visit costs $69.

Benefits of the School-Based Telehealth Program from Intermountain include: 

• Students have the ability to stay in school and see a provider during school hours.
• Reduce unnecessary missed school days.
• Affordable options for acute healthcare visits for families
• An opt-in program where parents give consent to use the telehealth services that are offered at the school.
• It is estimated that 64% of Utah families have all available parents working. This program allows parents to join the visits virtually and not have to miss work.
• Receiving quality healthcare in a timely manner. Wait time is less than 15 minutes.
• Telehealth Equipment meets federal patient privacy regulations and is equipped to provide real time health data and images for healthcare providers, who use this information to assess and determine a treatment plan.
• Ability to be seen for over 20 conditions (some of which are the most common pediatric concerns seen in the Emergency Department).
• School nurses being an integral part of the program to oversee the health of the students.

“Parents, school health professionals, and providers are very happy with what the program offers. This has shown to receive very positive feedback, including some parents who have agreed it is a safe, fast, convenient, trustworthy and money saving option,” said Amy Back, RN, MSN, executive director of the pediatric telehealth program for Intermountain Health.

The School-Based Telehealth program helps to level the playing field and address the chronic absentee problem in Utah, which represents 27% of students statewide and impacts the overall economy, the ability for students to learn, and the long-term health of students.

As a result of the support for this program from participating district administrators and school board leaders, teachers have greater satisfaction with their jobs because they don’t have as many students missing class. It’s also easier on parents when they don’t have to miss work for doctor’s appointments, and nurses are able to practice at the top of their license, which gives them better job satisfaction.

“This program is working and is proving to be a valuable asset in the school district,” said Back. “It’s estimated by implementing and using the full spectrum of the school-based telehealth program, that 5,500 days of education were saved in 2023-24, which is a 175% increase from last year.”

“For students who use the program, 96% of them return to class. If they do go home, 82% miss less than one day of school,” added Cooper. “Parents are recognizing the value of having telehealth in schools. Currently, 90% of parents who are offered to participate in the program opt-in. Overall, in the Wasatch County School District, 35% of parents have chosen to opted-in and have their children to participate.”

For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://news.intermountainhealth.org.

About Intermountain Health

Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a not-for-profit system of 34 hospitals, approximately 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.