OSF HealthCare Reduces Rates of Depression and Anxiety by Over 50% Using the Amwell® Platform

September 13, 2023 at 07:00 AM EDT

In a new case study, OSF HealthCare results underscore the impact digitally-enabled hybrid care delivers on improved patient outcomes and experience

OSF HealthCare, an integrated health system with more than 150 locations in Illinois and Michigan, has achieved significant clinical outcome improvements across its behavioral health patient community by leveraging the Amwell Converge™ platform. Results include:

58% clinical improvement for patients with moderate behavioral health conditions
53% improvement in patient depression screening scores
50% improvement in patient anxiety screening scores
94% patient satisfaction rate with the SilverCloud® by Amwell platform

“Better access to behavioral health services is needed now more than ever. Today, one in every four U.S. adults lives with a mental health condition, yet more than half receive no treatment,” said Ken Cahill, chief behavioral health officer at Amwell. “We are proud to have been selected to enable OSF’s delivery of a hybrid approach to behavioral healthcare that is delivering such a meaningful improvement in outcomes and patient access to care.”

OSF HealthCare documented alarming trends of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts reaching its emergency departments. The health system selected Amwell to implement a comprehensive hybrid care solution that could enable three main goals: connect individuals with resources as easily and early as possible; manage conditions, reduce severity of symptoms and prevent mental health crises; and provide support for its mental health professionals and care teams.

In 2018, OSF HealthCare implemented SilverCloud by Amwell, a global, digital mental health platform that provides 24/7 access to digital services for people who have mild to moderate symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety. The health system offered the digital program to anyone in its service area without the need for a referral or to be an existing OSF patient, and saw steady and positive adoption rates and a 300% increase in enrollments throughout the pandemic. Today, the program has more than 8,500 patient users.

To extend the powerful benefits of the solution, OSF HealthCare expanded its hybrid behavioral health approach to support teams delivering more acute levels of care, reaching more patients and helping more clinical teams maximize their effectiveness. Most recently, OSF Healthcare extended its use of SilverCloud by Amwell platform through a technology partnership with Illinois State University. This partnership will establish OSF as the sole medical provider for student-athletes and offer access to virtual mental health care via the digital program.

"After experiencing such devastating behavioral health trends in our patient population, our efforts to adopt and expand a hybrid approach to behavioral healthcare, in partnership with Amwell, have proven valuable in our mission to serve our communities with the greatest care and love,” said Dominique Dietz, director of behavioral health at OSF HealthCare. “The Amwell platform provides a scalable, reliable and flexible framework that can help us meet the growing and evolving needs of our communities now and into the future.”

To learn more about the results achieved through the OSF HealthCare and Amwell partnership, read the case study here.

About Amwell

Amwell provides a leading hybrid care enablement platform in the United States and globally, connecting and enabling providers, insurers, patients and innovators to deliver greater access to more affordable, higher quality care. Amwell believes that hybrid care delivery will transform healthcare. The company offers a single, comprehensive platform to support all digital health needs from urgent to acute and post-acute care, as well as chronic care management and healthy living. With nearly two decades of experience, Amwell powers the hybrid care of more than 55 health plans, which collectively represent more than 90 million covered lives, and many of the nation’s largest health systems, representing over 2,000 hospitals, have access to Amwell solutions. For more information, please visit https://business.amwell.com/.

OSF HealthCare is an integrated health system owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois. OSF HealthCare has 15 hospitals – 10 acute care, five critical access - with 2,084 licensed beds throughout Illinois and Michigan. OSF employs nearly 24,000 Mission Partners throughout 150+ locations; has two colleges of nursing; operates OSF Home Care Services, an extensive network of home health and hospice services; owns Pointcore, Inc., comprised of health care-related businesses; OSF HealthCare Foundation, the philanthropic arm for the organization; and OSF Ventures, which provides investment capital for promising health care innovation startups. In 2020, OSF OnCall was established, a digital health operating unit, including a hospital-at-home, which delivers care and services when, where and how patients prefer to receive them. OSF HealthCare has been recognized by Fortune as one of the most innovative companies in the country. More at osfhealthcare.org/.

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