Only a yr after launching as an organization, Bluebird Youngsters Well being is already saying plans to double its variety of pediatric clinics from three to 6.
The corporate — which for now, operates solely in Florida — seeks to enhance pediatric care entry in underserved areas by constructing practices in these neighborhoods and accepting all insurance coverage sorts. Almost half of all youngsters within the U.S. are lined by Medicaid, but lots of their households have a tough time discovering pediatricians who will settle for their insurance coverage — creating troubling pediatric care deserts in lower-income communities.
This drawback signifies that households in these communities are sometimes compelled to make use of emergency rooms for his or her routine care wants, which frequently leaves them saddled with hundreds of {dollars} of debt, mentioned Chris Johnson, Bluebird’s founder and CEO.
“Youngsters on Medicaid typically have emergency division and hospitalization charges that resemble Medicare sufferers — which is surprising when you think about these are typically wholesome youngsters. This isn’t only a healthcare problem; it impacts training when youngsters miss college, financial mobility when households can’t work as a result of a baby’s well being wants, and general group wellbeing,” he defined.
Bluebird goals to offer a uniform, high quality expertise for all households — regardless of the kind of protection they’ve, Johnson famous. The startup’s enterprise mannequin is constructed round value-based care preparations with each Medicaid and business payers.
The corporate’s mannequin additionally integrates behavioral well being into major care with a purpose to tackle a serious hole in pediatric companies, significantly for Medicaid sufferers, Johnson added.
Since launching three clinics in Palm Seaside County final yr, Bluebird has grown to serve greater than 20,000 sufferers.
Over the course of the summer time, the corporate will probably be opening three new de novo areas — two in Jacksonville and one in Broward County. These clinics are deliberately sited in pediatric care deserts the place entry to pediatricians is restricted for lower-income households, Johnson said.
“As we appeared for the optimum spot to web site these new practices, we primarily checked out a metro space and understood the place there simply aren’t sufficient pediatricians to serve all the kids that reside in that group. These are usually lower-income communities. There’s only a pure evolution that’s occurred within the healthcare system, the place a number of healthcare entry factors are usually in higher-income communities — and that’s occurred over the past 30 to 40 years. We’re attempting to counter that by bringing entry to those households and these youngsters which have struggled to get entry — our doorways are open to everybody,” he declared.
The brand new clinics are additionally situated in high-traffic retail areas, close to public transit and group facilities, to make them straightforward to achieve. They provide prolonged night and weekend hours, on-line and cellphone appointment reserving, walk-in availability, and digital and telephonic care choices — all decisions that have been made to spice up accessibility, Johnson defined.
Within the yr that Bluebird’s unique three clinics have been working, the corporate is already experiencing a excessive demand for its companies, he added.
“We’re seeing nice demand and traction as a result of we’re finding our clinics in these areas of excessive unmet want. We’re additionally seeing that we’re having a very nice shopper expertise — our guardian form of Internet Promoter Rating is constantly north of 90%. We’re additionally having actually excessive worker satisfaction, so we’re capable of appeal to and retain top quality employees,” Johnson remarked.
Youngsters’s healthcare outcomes are enhancing as nicely, he identified.
He mentioned that Bluebird’s care mannequin has lowered emergency division visits by greater than 50% and inpatient admissions by almost 70% amongst its sufferers. These outcomes stem primarily from proactive administration of frequent pediatric circumstances like bronchial asthma and nervousness, Johnson mentioned.
Earlier this yr, the startup raised $31.5 million in Sequence A funding. Within the subsequent couple of years, Bluebird will seemingly broaden into new states — akin to Georgia, Texas, Virginia and the Carolinas — in response to payer curiosity in its value-based care mannequin, Johnson said.
Picture: Steve Debenport, Getty Photographs
