FusionHealth is the leader in Sleep Medicine and provides many benefits to both Health Plans and members including the following:
1 : Only Comprehensive Sleep Medicine Program in Georgia
FusionHealth is the only Medical Group in Georgia that focuses strictly on the complex field of Sleep Medicine. All FusionHealth physicians are dedicated to the field of Sleep Medicine, and only practice this specialty due to the complex nature of the patient care required. Sleep Medicine is FusionHealth’s core competence, which means that resources are being used for the right reasons.
Benefits to Health Plan Provider:
- Highest quality service
- Optimizes efficacy of resources
- Resources are used for the right reason
- Dedicated specialty business practices
- Lower cost due to efficiency, correct choice of treatments and improved compliance
Benefits to Member:
- Multiple treatments available
- All sleep disorders addressed
- One medical group accountable
Our Competition:
Most other practices view sleep as an extension of their practice or a gateway to surgical procedures. Hospitals look at sleep as a profitable ancillary service. Different types of medical practices have historically offered sleep medicine services without adequate qualifications, training or focus, usually centered on the sleep-testing component alone or the delivery of durable medical equipment alone. The health plan ends up paying for services, which are often uncoordinated, unnecessary and ineffective. This results in untreated sleep disorders causing serious medical problems such as Type II Diabetes, Hypertension, Congestive Heart Failure, Metabolic Syndrome, Obesity, ADHD and Stroke.
2 : Multidisciplinary Sleep Medicine Practice
Sleep Medicine is a multidisciplinary medical specialty requiring years of medical and scientific training and a broad knowledge base. Many Sleep Disorders are concurrent, such as Sleep Apnea (Respiratory/Neurological) and Restless Legs Syndrome (Neurological). Addressing only one of several concurrent sleep disorders limits therapy benefits. Addressing the full spectrum of sleep disorders requires a multidisciplinary approach which is part of Sleep Medicine training and includes neurology, pulmonary, pediatrics, psychiatry, otolaryngology, and even dentistry.
Benefits to Health Plan Provider:
- Most comprehensive service
- Broader knowledge base results in more efficient visits with lower cost
- Scope of practice is broad yet focused on Sleep Medicine
- Treatments are inclusive of medical, surgical and dental approaches
- Lower administrative cost for multiple approaches
Added Benefits to Member:
- Greatly reduced risk of being inappropriately diagnosed or given inadequate treatment
- Less confusion with multidisciplinary team integration
- Limits visits to multiple specialty practices reducing down / lost time
- Convenience of service in one location
- Lower cost due to team approach
Our Competition:
Currently, the majority of sleep services are performed as an additional service within a specialty practice that does not focus on Sleep Medicine. Since the majority of these specialists provide other types of care, often pulmonology or ENT surgery, their ability to offer a full range of diagnostic and therapeutic services is limited. In addition, these medical practices cannot provide the medical equipment expertise, multidisciplinary team approach or disease management program focused on Sleep Medicine because their primary practice is within a separate specialty.
3 : Seamless, Efficient Treatment Pathway
FusionHealth provides a seamless pathway for patients including medical evaluations, diagnosis, therapy and treatment follow-up for all sleep disorders, and for all age groups. The key to a successful outcome is dependent on a fully integrated follow up program, which FusionHealth provides. FusionHealth includes a stringent compliance program regarding usage of DME equipment to ensure that the members are utilizing the equipment that the health plan is paying for. This ensures lasting therapeutic success by allowing for medical re-evaluation and treatment alterations over time.
Benefits to Health Plan Provider:
- Long-term management focus to reduce costly complications of chronic disease
- Higher likelihood of patient compliance
- Measureable outcomes
- Lower medical cost
Added Benefits to Member:
- Life long disease management
- Convenience and ease of transitions with age or health status
- Limits visits to multiple specialty practices reducing down / lost time
- Lower costs for successful therapy
Our Competition:
Fragmented and disjointed. Patients generally have to get sleep services from multiple parties, including physician’s offices not prepared to handle sleep medicine problems or benefits issues and durable medical equipment providers who perform “low-cost” services including “drop ship” device delivery without adequate service. The current misalignment of care with ‘lowest initial cost”, limits treatment efficacy and even increases costs due to compliance failure.
4 : Only Pediatric Sleep Medicine Program in Georgia
FusionHealth is the leading provider of Pediatric Sleep Medicine in the Southeast United States. Sleep disorders in the pediatric population are a growing concern due to the recognition of the link with conditions such as attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), childhood obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Benefits to Health Plan Provider:
- Co-morbidities often resolved (ADHD, Type II Diabetes)
- Reduced drug costs
- Lower healthcare costs now and by disease prevention.
Added Benefits to Member:
- Healthier future for the nation’s youth
- Improved academic performance
- Reduced burden of socioeconomic distress
- Reduced long-term healthcare costs
Our Competition:
No competingprogram offers similar Sleep Medicine services for children.
5 : Prevention & Disease Management
FusionHealth is fundamentally a disease management program. We focus on outcomes and disease prevention through cost effective elimination of the underlying causes for chronic disease and/or excessive use of symptomatic treatments. We follow the patient long term, focusing on preventing disease and protecting or often improving the patient’s health condition.
Benefits to Health Plan Provider:
- Co-morbidities reduced or resolved
- Lowered drug costs
- Reduced hospitalizations
- Lower risk of accidents
- Lower healthcare costs
Added Benefits to Member:
- Healthier life and future
- Prevent rather than treat disease
- Reduce heath care costs
Our Competition:
Most competitors regard sleep disorder treatment as an episodic event, and provide little to no follow-up patient care. The success of therapy is only as good as the measurement of outcomes and long-term management of side effects, complications and changes in health that occur with age. There are no other programs designed like FusionHealth in this regard.
6 : Only Integrated Oral Appliance Therapy Program in Georgia
FusionHealth offers the only integrated Oral Appliance Therapy (OAT) program in the State of Georgia. Oral Appliance Therapy is an important alternative to CPAP, and often replaces CPAP therapy for intolerant patients.
Benefits to Health Care Provider:
- Less non-compliant patients
- Lowered healthcare costs
- Successful apnea treatment supervised by the Sleep Medicine physician.
Added Benefits to Member:
- Provides a continuum of care
- Enduring therapeutic outcome assured by direct medical oversight
Our Competition:
FusionHealth is not aware of another medical practice offering OAT in Georgia. Some Oral Appliances are provided by dentists, although the use of an OA as a medical treatment for sleep apnea (as defined in 2009 by the GA State Composite Board of Medical Examiners) is a matter of medical not dental practice.
7 : FusionHealth Corporate Programs – Working with Employers
FusionHealth actively works with employers through its Occupational Sleep Medicine Program. We deliver strong value to corporations by protecting their employees’ health, while often drastically reducing risk and cost in their organization. Clients include logistics companies, manufacturers and companies operating multiple shifts. FusionHealth regularly contributes to health fairs and other educational events for the employees of corporations focused on a healthier workforce.
Benefits to Health Plan Provider:
- Alliance with FusionHealth would help promote the health plan’s value proposition to Employer
- Reduced risk of accidents
- Lower healthcare costs
Added Benefits to Employer:
- Reduced Worker’s Compensation Claims
- Reduce risk in operations
- Drive down healthcare costs
- More productive workforce
- Positive view of health plan / provider collaboration
- Become part of a disease prevention network aligned with employer’s insurance
Our Competition:
FusionHealth is not aware of any other Sleep Medicine Programs in Georgia, which actively works with employers to provide Occupational Sleep Medicine as a focused offering.
8 : Enterprise Solutions for Sleep Disorder Management
FusionHealth is a national leader in offering programs to help employers address the issue of sleep disorders and workplace fatigue management. This is exceptionally relevant to businesses that make safety a priority, including transportation, manufacturing, logistics and municipalities.
Benefits to Health Plan Provider:
- Demonstrate concern for best practices in disease prevention
- Provide novel research findings to the health plan for development of prevention programs unlike any other health plan
Added Benefits to Member:
- Provide alternative programs to improve healthcare delivery, practice and treatment outcomes based on research
Our Competition:
Aside from academic institutions that receive NIH and governmental funding for research, there are no private Sleep Medicine programs that perform research in order to redefine the future of healthcare within this field.
For more ways and specific information on how FusionHealth can be a benefit to you, please contact us.