The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic has been providing virtual second opinions to tens of thousands of patients a year — and is expanding.
The Clinic, a joint venture between Cleveland Clinic and telehealth company Amwell, recently grew its number of physician licensures around the country, allowing it to see more patients, and rolled out concierge cancer care.
“Tens of thousands of people make better medical decisions thanks to our second-opinion program,” Frank McGillin, CEO of The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic, told Becker’s. “We’ve found that two-thirds of the time we’re helping identify an alternative treatment pathway for the individual, and we’ve been able to support and help health plans and employers reduce the cost of unnecessary surgery or unnecessary care.”
The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic recently partnered with credentialing company Baton Health to grow its provider licenses to more than 10,000, spanning the entire country. The Clinic also launched a cancer concierge program to offer virtual consults with oncology subspecialists as well as cancer care navigation.
“We’re able to take advantage of the multidisciplinary approach that Cleveland Clinic takes to cancer. We’re able to access tumor boards to ensure you’re not just being looked at, for example, by a medical oncologist, but your case is being looked at by medical-surgical as well as a radiation oncologist to make sure it’s a very holistic approach to your care pathway,” Mr. McGillin said. “Research recently has shown that cancer is one of the fastest-growing cost burdens for employers. And over half the counties in the U.S. don’t have an oncologist available. So we were looking to really help fill that gap with this new program.”
The Clinic debuted in 2020 to offer virtual second opinions from Cleveland Clinic’s roughly 3,500 specialists to patients anywhere in the U.S. If the provider is licensed in the patient’s state, he or she can provide a video visit and treatment plan; otherwise, he or she can deliver a written report in collaboration with a local physician.
“One of the important goals of Cleveland Clinic is to increase the number of lives touched,” Mr. McGillin said. “And through this program, we’re able to provide access to Cleveland Clinic expertise to people around the globe. We’re helping patients in all 50 states, as well as significant international volumes.”
Patients can access the program either through an employer health plan or the self-pay rate of just under $2,000. The Clinic estimates it saves about $8,700 per patient by getting them on the right treatment plan.
“We’ve been able to really innovate in terms of how we deliver the second opinion to dramatically reduce the time from initiation to delivery,” Mr. McGillin said. “A few days after we get medical records, we’re able to deliver that second opinion. For a patient, that’s a critical time when they really are dealing with a lot of stress and looking to move forward.”
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