Who is using Connect Care?

• Women use Connect Care more often than men – 67% to 33% respectively.
• Adults between ages 36-64 use Connect Care more often that 18-35 year olds, with the groups making up 42% and 35% of our patients, respectively. Meanwhile, the oldest patient to have used it is 100 years old!
• 81% of visits are conducted on mobile devices.
• 39% of our visits come from these 10 cities: Salt Lake City, West Jordan, Sandy, South Jordan, St. George, Ogden, Lehi, West Valley City, Herriman, and Layton.
• About 11% of patients, or 662 people, have used the service two or more times.
• Our patients are pretty happy with the service, rating the experience

How are we keeping Connect Care safe?

• Providers: Three Intermountain providers, Wayne, Nancy, and Robin, cover Connect Care from 7 AM to 11 PM 7 days a week. These providers field 80% of our interactions and our patients rate them 4.9 out of 5 stars. Our backup network of American Well doctors help cover night hours, holidays, and times when we have high volumes, helping us provide 24/7 coverage and short wait times so you can get the care you need, when you need it.
• Care Guidelines: As Medical Director, I’ve worked with the Urgent Care and Pediatric experts to develop and approve 13 clinical guidelines that help ensure the safe diagnosis and treatment of:
  • Common cold
  • Cough & bronchitis
  • Ear pain
  • Fever
  • Low back pain
  • Painful urination
  • Red eye
  • Sinus pain and pressure, and
  • Sore throat.

See if Connect Care is right for your symptoms here: https://intermountainhealthcare.org/campaigns/is-connect-care-right-for-me/

• Diagnosis: While 85% of our patients receive a diagnosis during their Connect Care visit, 15% are referred for in-person care – we want to make sure you are safely cared for above all.  The good news is, if we can’t take care of you and need to immediately refer you, we won’t charge you for the Connect Care visit.
• Medical Record: Visit notes for Connect Care are available to your regular Intermountain doctor on your medical record, helping to ensure continuity of care between online and in-person visits.
• Payer Coverage: Connect Care, which costs $49 no matter your insurance, is now covered by SelectHealth and an additional 3 payers (estimated at ~720,000 lives) – and some of these plans offer lower copays. Go to https://intermountainhealthcare.org/c/connect-care/ and scroll down to the bottom to see if your insurance provider offers coverage.

How are we making Connect Care even easier to use?

• Point of Care Testing: We recently launched a pilot that enables you to go to an Intermountain Lab or Pharmacy for a rapid strep test and conveniently have a prescription waiting for you if the test is positive. This helps ensure we’re only prescribing antibiotics when they’re really needed, without having to send you to in-person care if you have a suspected bacterial throat infection. The pilot launched in 4 lab locations (Bountiful, Taylorsville, Layton, and Sandy) in January, will launch in a select number of pharmacies in March, and is planned for further expansion this year.
• Real time eligibility: Currently, Connect Care relies on manual processes and back-end billing to set co-payment prices for patients. In the coming months, however, the system will be able to check your insurance in real time and provide more accurate co-payment for you up front.

Thank you for your support of Connect Care over the past year. We’ve learned a lot and look forward to continuing to improve this service for you and your family.