May 18—Two years ago, Dr. Nupur Mehta co-founded Heyday Health — a house call and telehealth primary care practice for adults on Medicare and Medicare Advantage — in northeast Ohio after the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the time, it seemed to be a solution to help combat the challenges patients and healthcare workers faced regarding restrictions and widespread closures of medical facilities.
“Most face-to-face care, pretty much overnight, switched from 100% in-person to 100% virtual,” said Mehta, who is Heyday’s chief medical officer and lead physician, “and what I found in sort of thinking about this practice is that a lot of people actually did better.”
Mehta realized people were able to thrive without leaving home and could reach him and his team “just with a click of a button through a video visit or by picking up the phone and contacting us.”
“Because we had already established a relationship already from the clinic, it was easy for (the patients) to translate that into a virtual visit,” he said.
Mehta said Heyday Health helps address an issue many patients can face regularly.
“When you think about it, … one of the biggest barriers to (seeking) care is transportation (and) getting to the doctor’s office …,” he said. “Instead, we are bringing it to them.”
Heyday follows a model in which each patient has a care team that consists of a primary care physician, a nurse practitioner and a health ally.
After having a successful launch in Ohio, Mehta said the company received requests from different parts of the country that were interested in the company’s model, including western and south central Kentucky.
Heyday launched in the Commonwealth in January and has received positive feedback.
“Owensboro, Bowling Green and Elizabethtown … were three of the geographies that we felt we could make the most impact,” Mehta said. “… Things have been going great. We’ve been growing; and I think most importantly, the patient experience has been really good.”
Dr. John Walker, a former family physician with Owensboro Health and former medical director for Audubon Area Community Care Center, is a physician with Heyday and its medical director for the state of Kentucky.
Walker appreciated the model of the company in getting to know the patients better.
“In the clinic, you take care of your patients there, but you spend 15, 20, 25 minutes and you get a snapshot of the patient,” he said. “When you’re in a home, you get to see their pets, you get to see what their living arrangements are ….
“You get a whole picture, and I think patients show you more of who they really are in the home because they’re a lot more comfortable there …; and rather than having that snapshot, you really get to spend time with the patient … and really get to care for them.”
The Owensboro care team also consists of nurse practitioner Krystal Medley and health ally Katie Lowe.
Medley, who worked in a wound care clinic and did home visits in palliative medicine, felt seeing patients in their everyday environment was a “game changer.”
“… I fell in love with getting to know the patients, getting to know their lives,” she said, “and they almost become part of your family.”
Medley noticed palliative medicine had a “big gap” regarding patients seeking primary care and saw Heyday addressing the need head-on.
“Transitioning into this has helped me feel like I fill that gap,” she said.
Lowe, who grew up in Owensboro, said “being involved in the community is big to me” and feels her position with Heyday helps her give back and create personal and meaningful relationships.
“I’m kind of the glue,” she said. “I connect the patients and the family with the health team.”
Being able to see the patients in their natural environment also helps the care team observe other things they may need to be aware of.
“… We can check to see if they have enough to eat and if they’re up-to-date on their medications or, God forbid, if they’re using their medications incorrectly,” Mehta said. “From a clinical side, it gives us a level of insight that we don’t typically get.”
The model also revitalizes a method that hasn’t been practiced in years.
“In many ways, it actually sort of echoes the way healthcare used to be delivered,” Mehta said. “One hundred years ago, a house call would be totally normal, but we’ve really moved away from that as a country.
“I like to joke it’s sort of like being ‘Back to the Future’ — we’re taking care back to the way things used to be (with) really strong relationships in the patient’s home in their comfortable environment.”
At the same time, Heyday also takes advantage of using modern advancements in medicine and technology.
“We don’t have to wait now for someone to come back to our office in order to assess them,” Mehta said. “We can meet their needs when and wherever they’re at.”
Walker said patients have been “very appreciative” of the team’s efforts for providing full primary care.
“We’re not just the sick visit; we are primary care,” he said. “We do labs, and orders and imaging — it’s just great.”
But Mehta said the model doesn’t just benefit the patients in the long run.
“I think one thing we’ve forgotten about (is regarding) burnout — this actually is a better operating model for clinicians and people in the healthcare space,” he said. “The fact that we have more time actually allows us to practice medicine in the way that we were taught; and the reason why we went into medicine was to build relationships with patients. We’re finally, I think, creating a better working environment for clinicians, too.
“It builds on itself …. Clinicians are happier, which makes patients happier ….”
For more information about Heyday Health, visit heydayhealth.com or call 270-835-5669.
