IncludeHeath Joins Hands with Yale New Haven to Provide Virtual MSK Care in Homes

IncludeHeath Joins Hands with Yale New Haven to Provide Virtual MSK Care in Homes IncludeHealth, a digital musculoskeletal company, has formed a partnership with Yale New Haven Health System to broaden the scope of care available to patients suffering from MSK conditions.

The collaboration first began this year at Yale New Haven Hospital and has the potential to expand throughout the health system.

Through this collaboration, patients will have access to virtual physical therapy in the comfort of their own homes; they will benefit from the advantages of a hybrid care model enabled by IncludeHealth’s technology platform. The cloud-based platform goes by the name ‘MSK-OS’ and integrates body-tracking technology with clinical intelligence and tools to facilitate the remote delivery of medical, surgical, and musculoskeletal care. Since IncludeHealth is delivered to providers as a service, it is free of charge to the patients.

Clinicians are able to keep tabs on their patients outside of the clinic thanks to the platform, which provides them with real-time access to objective, measured data on their patients’ movements. Moreover, it’s possible to make changes to a patient’s care plan whenever necessary thanks to the platform’s support for both real-time and asynchronous communication between patients and clinicians.

Ryan Eder, CEO of IncludeHealth, said: “We are grateful to partner with such a well-respected clinical organization as Yale New Haven Health. We are strong believers in a hybrid model of care, putting our technology in the hands of a patient’s trusted provider to strengthen the patient-clinician relationship. We look forward to the impact this will have on patient access and outcomes.”

Those undergoing surgery, dealing with chronic pain, or participating in outpatient physical therapy will all benefit from the hybrid model, which is said to be a first in the industry. The point is to keep a patient in control of their treatment decisions and with their trusted clinical team.

According to Eder, clinicians don’t usually think about treating their patients once their face-to-face interaction comes to an end. This is what IncludeHealth aims to change by enabling patient treatment beyond the in-person setting. Eder went on to say that the company’s most important job is to help clinicians think about this issue and keep the workflow integration smooth.

Through IncludeHealth, doctors can provide patients with digital plans that can be accessed from any computer or mobile device. The platform then sends the patient an interactive home exercise plan and monitors their progress in real-time, recording metrics like their heartbeat and motion range. Care plans can be modified based on remote monitoring of patient progress.

Eder pointed out that this method leads to greater engagement from both doctors and patients. So far, IncludeHealth’s engagement rates have averaged 80%, with patients completing 20 sessions per month in addition to in-person appointments.

Together with Google and early clinical partners, IncludeHealth developed the MSK-OS platform and put it through rigorous testing and refinement. Throughout 2021 and 2022, the technology has been implemented in a variety of clinical settings in collaboration with physical therapy and health systems.