Today’s health systems are juggling many competing priorities—drive innovation, increase profitability, ensure quality care, and so much more. To meet their goals, many healthcare leaders are turning towards collaborative partnerships to enhance the patient experience and maintain focus on core competencies.
EvergreenHealth is a community-based, integrated health care system in Washington on a mission to provide high quality, safe, compassionate, and cost-effective care for patients in their community. They boast a two-hospital system, a strong medical group, the largest combined home health and hospice program in the state, and a top-rated research program.
EvergreenHealth recently partnered with Luna to bring outpatient physical therapy services to their patients in the comfort of their homes. We had the opportunity to sit down with two leaders within this innovative organization—Juan Manuel Aragon, M.D., M.M.M, Director of Business Development and Philip Vande Pol, DPT, OCS, Supervisor Outpatient Rehabilitation—to learn more about their experience working with Luna.
Here are a few highlights from the conversation.
Tell us a bit about the market you serve and why you’re choosing to innovate care delivery.
“We live in an area of the country where innovation is not the exception but the norm. Our patients in our community expect us to be at the forefront of medicine and everything we do. We always look at the way we provide care as if we were to provide it to our family members and loved ones. And innovation is what we want to do. We want to offer the families in our community the best and the most recent technologies and ways to provide care.” - Juan
“Over the last two years, Evergreen has developed telemedicine and on-demand options for all service lines. This is something that’s been enthusiastically received but also just gives more flexibility to our patients and gives them more options in how they seek out and utilize health care.” - Phillip
What first drew you to Luna?
“We’re always looking for ways to provide high-quality care to the community because that’s of extreme importance to EvergreenHealth. With the partnership with Luna, we saw an opportunity to have a natural extension of our own service lines and be able to go into the community and offer high-quality physical therapy care just in a slightly different venue by meeting the patient at their home.” - Phillip
“What I loved about Luna is they figured out a way in physical therapy to enhance the moment of care by combining a technological tool with a human resource and putting that resource at the place where the patient needs it—at home where it’s more comfortable for us the majority of times. It’s important in the COVID era. A lot of patients don’t want to leave their homes, and they don’t want to come to a crowded facility. We want to provide a solution for those patients because healthcare is not only your physical wellbeing but also your mental wellbeing.” - Juan
What do you appreciate most about your partnership with Luna?
“Luna has been a fantastic partner for us not only in the way we conduct business but also in the way we approach patient care. First and foremost, we want to be known as an organization that provides quality care, and that’s the number one focus that we feel comes from Luna—they never jeopardize that.” - Juan
“One of the nice things about Luna is that they came with existing infrastructure and framework that really allowed EvergreenHealth a natural extension of this service into the community. Luna had the technological backing to make the implementation and rollout seamless.” - Phillip
Any words of wisdom for other health systems looking to rethink the way they deliver care?
“I would encourage other health systems to take a very strong look at what Luna could provide and how this could best complement their services.” - Phillip
To learn more about the partnership and how Luna is helping EvergreenHealth deliver exceptionally convenient, high-quality physical therapy to patients, read the full press release here.
Luna partners with world-class health systems, physical therapy groups, and orthopedic groups to provide at-home care via in-person delivery. If you’re ready to think differently about the way you deliver care, learn more about partnering with Luna.