Concern about mental health is a reality that has been increasing in Brazil and around the world.
According to the “Global Health Service Monitor 2023” survey carried out by Ipsosa multinational market research and consultancy company, five out of ten Brazilians believe that in terms of well-being, mental health is the population’s main problem.
According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), Brazil is the country with the largest number of anxious people – around 9.3% of the population suffers from anxiety. This led the institution to issue a warning that one in four people in the country will suffer from some mental disorder throughout their lives.
Given this scenario, the actions of the Hapvida NotreDame Intermédicathe largest healthcare operator in Latin America, adopted a pioneering approach by expanding its Mental Health Care Lines and redefining the segment’s standards.
“Our project is quite disruptive and innovative. There is nothing similar being done in the national territory, covering the number of hospitals and emergency services that we currently have in our network. The results we achieved, in just two years of execution, show that we are on the right path, offering humanized treatment, with great care and improved care for our patients”, says Gabriel Corrêa, National Medical Manager of Psychiatry at Hapvida NotreDame Intermédica.
The differences between Hapvida
- Complete and personalized monitoring : going beyond the conventional, the operator prioritizes comprehensive patient care at all points of contact. From teleconsultation, which allows diagnostic accuracy, agility in decision-making and treatment definition, to specialized support provided after the patient’s medical discharge. According to the executive director of Digital Health and Medical Clinics at Hapvida NotreDame IntermédicaAdria Mara, the program stands out for its integrated journey, supported by a team of multidisciplinary professionals, guaranteeing high-quality remote assistance. “The patient receives the first face-to-face service from a medical team who can, through teleconsultation, consult connected specialists in order to guide them in providing agile and effective care. After discharge, care continues. There is monitoring by a multidisciplinary team, made up of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and nurses, who monitor the treatment, from scheduling appointments to checking whether medications are being taken”, he highlights.
- Wide coverage :a Hapvida understands that mental health care needs to be intensified. Therefore, the initiative is present in all of the operator’s emergency units, currently totaling 160 units in the network, distributed in 22 states, covering all regions of the country.
- Efficiency at every stage : with hospital teleconsultation, diagnosis, management and treatment are speeded up and the average length of stay for patients with a mental health disorder is reduced. The results can already be seen through the optimization of care provided by a specialist and greater support for people with mental disorders during assessment in the network’s hospitals.
- 360º performance : The program has four pillars of action:
- Urgency, for immediate care for patients in critical situations;
- Hospitalization, which offers continuous care for hospitalized patients;
- Post-Discharge, with monitoring, even after hospital discharge;
- Outpatient clinic, with support for patients outside the hospital. This approach allows for complete and integrated coverage, ensuring that everyone receives the necessary attention at each stage of treatment.
- Expressive results : More than 21 thousand hospital opinions have been carried out since the beginning of the project, in 2022, with eight thousand of them issued this year. Of this total, 9,500 beneficiaries were treated via telemonitoring and 99% of psychiatric opinions were responded to within three hours – in the market, it is common to see waiting periods of up to 12 hours for this type of assessment.
- Readmission prevention: Monitoring via telemonitoring begins within 72 hours of the patient’s discharge, in order to ensure adherence to the program. This supervision lasts for at least 90 days, a period that can be extended if necessary. Teleconsultation appointments are made by scheduling weekly psychotherapy sessions and with a psychiatrist as necessary. During this period, a multidisciplinary team carries out intensive monitoring and monitoring of the clinical condition.
- Psychological care throughout Brazil : the process begins with a medical consultation with a general practitioner, who refers the patient to therapy. From there, you can schedule sessions online. As with telepsychiatry, care is guaranteed in any location, including the most remote locations in the country. It is also worth highlighting that telepsychology has an important interface with psychiatry telemonitoring, allowing post-discharge patients and those who require therapeutic monitoring to be automatically connected to the telepsychology service. Each month, more than 40 thousand telepsychology consultations are carried out.
- Partnership with companies: In addition to offering comprehensive and personalized support, the telemonitoring program also stands out for its partnership with companies to meet the specific demands of employees. After identifying beneficiaries eligible for the program, the mental health team at the Hapvida works together with companies’ Human Resources departments to begin taking care of employees’ mental health. Adria highlights that this integrated approach is unique in the market. “This program represents a significant advance in mental health care both in Brazil and in Latin America. It is not limited to crisis care, but also aims to promote a long-term sustainable mental health culture.”
This content was originally published in Focus on Brazilian mental health care on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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