Iris Telehealth focuses on hospitals, health centers with virtual psychiatry

Andy Flanagan, CEO of Iris Telehealth, says he is optimistic about his company’s prospects, in large part due to the pressing need for mental health services nationwide.

Iris fills a critical need for providers who are seeing overwhelming numbers of patients in need of mental health services, he said.

Based in Austin, Texas, Iris provides virtual psychiatry and mental health services to hospitals, health systems and community health centers. Iris now works with nearly 200 hospitals and community health centers.

“It’s about rethinking the whole engagement model for behavioral health,” Flanagan said. health director in a recent interview.

“We’re one of the few doing what we do on a large scale,” he said.

Flanagan spoke with health director about Iris and its work with hospitals and health systems.

“Iris is making a difference by collaborating with corporate health systems and community mental health resources to integrate the patient journey with the right clinician, at the right time, all virtually,” Flanagan said. (See excerpts from our conversation with Andy Flanagan in this video. The story continues below the video.)

Focus on serious mental illnesses

Although Iris provides services for patients with anxiety and depression, the company primarily focuses on people with more serious issues.

“Iris focuses primarily on serious mental illnesses and, of course, we address low acuity therapy, for stress, anxiety and mild depression,” Flanagan said. “Starting on the spectrum of serious mental illness allows us to manage escalations, without referral, without transition of care, and these gaps lead to unfortunate escalations and emergency department use.”

Iris psychiatrists work with hospitals and health systems to assess patient risk.

Hospitals and healthcare systems are seeing more and more patients with behavioral health issues in the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers say they are increasingly concerned about the costs of long-term mental health care, which they have identified as the main health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent survey by the Business Group on Health. .

Rapid growth

Founded in 2013, Iris is experiencing significant growth and today employs 500 people. Flanagan expects the company to continue to increase its workforce.

In April, the company announced that it had secured an additional $40 million in funding from investors including Concord Health Partners and Columbia Pacific Advisors.

“Iris has an impressive track record of partnering with health systems and other providers to improve behavioral health services by facilitating access to the appropriate level of care,” said James Olsen, Founder and Managing Partner of Concord. Health Partners, in April. “We are excited to support Iris, expand its reach and further enhance its technology capabilities.”

Last week, Inc.Magazine placed Iris Telehealth on its annual “Inc. 5000″ ranking of America’s fastest-growing private companies. The company has seen 109% revenue growth over three years.

“Since our founding in 2013, our mission has been to extend high-quality virtual behavioral health services to those who need them most,” Flanagan said in a statement to the Inc. 5000 ranking. of this mission and the dedication of our team to make it a reality.”

Balance resources

Iris works with hospitals to balance the demand they see from the community, and telehealth can provide more efficient use of resources, Flanagan said.

“A digitally driven behavioral health strategy through telehealth can not only deliver the same clinical outcomes, but more importantly, it allows you to balance resources almost immediately,” Flanagan said.

“So if there’s a no-show, or if there’s an escalation, in another part of the county, across the state, we can actually redirect a clinician, in real time, to respond to this clinical need based on acuity,” he said. “That’s why we focus on the right patient and the right clinician, at the right time.

Telehealth also helps providers deal with the critical shortage of behavioral health professionals, Flanagan said.

“We can redirect a clinician in practically 15 seconds from facility A to facility B,” he said. “There is no wasted time. You can’t do that physically. When you have such a limited supply, you need that kind of flexibility.

Iris also sees her mission as helping to integrate behavioral health with other health care needs, Flanagan said.

“When you talk about a population that has severe mental illness, they also have comorbidities,” he said. “Evidence shows that it’s important to think about the patient journey in oncology or cardiology, in terms of behavioral health, as part of the whole health story.”

“When we go into a partner, we call the partner clients, we’re actually thinking about how we integrate behavioral health resources at the patient’s point of need into some of these service lines for a holistic strategy,” a- he declared.

Iris is owned and operated by doctors, so the company isn’t just run by big corporations, Flanagan said.

Nonetheless, Iris is profitable, he said. “We see ourselves as a medical group,” he said. “We try to be a responsible, profitable and reliable partner over a long period of time.”

“We work hard”

Given the shortage of mental health professionals, Iris anticipates a growing demand. While Flanagan said he was proud of Iris’ success and growth, he said there was a need for more companies to tackle serious mental health issues.

In the first three quarters of 2021, children’s hospitals reported a 14% increase in mental health emergencies and a 42% increase in suicide and self-harm cases, compared to the same period in 2019 , according to data from the American Psychological Association.

Behavioral health advocates have urged Congress to invest more in developing more clinicians. Mitch Prinstein, scientific director of the American Psychological Association, underlined the seriousness of the crisis before a Senate panel in February.

“Saying this is a mental health crisis is not enough,” Prinstein said. “It’s an accumulation of decades of neglect, stigma and unequal treatment of mental health versus physical health.”

Flanagan said the company is focused on creating sustainable healthcare programs for hospitals and healthcare systems.

“We do the hard work,” he said. “We believe doing the hard work will help solve the tough problems.”