PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Saluting Cigna (NYSE:CI) for its campaign to raise awareness of the importance of emotional health and encourage patients to talk to their medical providers about how they feel emotionally, Tridiuum CEO Mark Redlus said, “Just acknowledging ‘whole person’ health is a critical step in addressing the nation’s growing behavioral health problems and their often devastating effects on physical health.
“Beyond the well-recognized issue of climbing suicide rates among everyone from children to veterans and seniors, behavioral health issues exacerbate such chronic health issues as diabetes and heart disease, complicating and increasing the cost of treatment,” continued Redlus. He noted that, according to the January 2018 Milliman Research Report, the projected additional healthcare costs incurred in 2017 by people with behavioral comorbidities (behavioral health issues and a chronic disease) were estimated to be $406 billion across commercially insured, Medicaid, and Medicare beneficiaries in the United States.
“If we can identify, assess and effectively treat behavioral health issues, we not only will improve outcomes for patients, but we also can significantly curb some of the skyrocketing costs of healthcare,” said Redlus.
“Cigna’s initiative and others in the industry are important,” added Stu Segal, Tridiuum’s chief behavioral health officer, who cited as examples CVS Health’s stated intent to address behavioral healthcare in its planned, post-Aetna-merger “concept stores” and Beacon Health’s pilot providing “retail therapy” with outpatient mental health services at a Walmart store in Texas.
“Once emotional issues are brought to light, though, there are other issues to be dealt with; namely: timely assessment and diagnosis, and access to and engaging patients in optimal treatment programs,” Segal continued. “There can be obstacles to positive patient outcomes, but with technology today and advances in artificial intelligence, ‘big data,’ and treatment modalities there are ways to overcome them.”
About Tridiuum Inc.
Tridiuum's
behavioral health software-as-a-service solution
accelerates identifying, managing, and treating behavioral health across
the continuum of care. Its cloud-based Tridiuum1 platform delivers
actionable insights at point of care that can improve outcomes for
patients, providers and health systems. The company’s scalable
behavioral health outcomes management technology – including its unique
metric to quantify behavioral health called the Behavioral Health Index
score – seamlessly integrates with most electronic health records and
health-IT software. More than 600 clinical facilities use Tridiuum’s
proprietary technology, with more than 2,500 behavioral health providers
using the platform to currently assess some 4,000 patients a day. To
learn more about the company from CEO Redlus, listen to a recent Wharton
Business Radio interview on SiriusXM, channel 132.
Note: Tridiuum, Tridiuum1 and Behavioral Health Index are trademarks of Tridiuum Inc. The names of other actual companies, organizations and/or products/services mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
