Pleased to share a short 11-minute documentary that we produced with our partners from the Sundance Film Festival. This is how health care should be.
PS - If anyone has a contact at CMS or HHS, please feel free to share this link with them.
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After nearly 30 years of abuse, addiction, incarceration, homelessness, and serious health issues, Adolphus Nickleberry decided it was time to seek help. His moving story is the subject of "Meet Me Where I Am," a documentary short film produced by University of Utah Health that debuted during Sundance Film Festival 2022.
U of U Health is proud to be the official health and wellness sponsor of Sundance for six years running. In keeping with the festival spirit, they embrace the opportunity to enrich the community by amplifying new voices and models of care through the ongoing series "New Narratives in Health." With generous support from the Kahlert Foundation, Academy Award-winning filmmakers Ross Kauffman, André Robert Lee, and Robin Honan show how Nickleberry combatted the underlying traumas of his childhood-with the assistance of the Intensive Outpatient Clinic, a unique program at U of U Health-to begin a new chapter in his life.
Nickleberry's story paints a vivid picture of those in our communities who have been put at increased risk of poor health outcomes. University of Health Plans and the Intensive Outpatient Clinic (IOC) saw an opportunity to provide medically and behaviorally complex Medicaid members with individualized treatment plans while creating efficiencies for the health system. These patients make frequent visits to the ER and are often hospitalized for prolonged periods of time. Frequent touch points with an integrated care team can often reduce both those metrics.
Like Nickleberry, this population of individuals typically has a significant trauma history. Most ERs and health centers are not equipped to provide the more intensive medical and behavioral health support these patients need for an extended period of time.
The IOC provides a unique model of treatment. They help identify patients who frequent our emergency department, seeking help for a myriad of medical and mental health needs. By taking patients under their wing, they alleviate the huge amount of time, cost, and burden on hospital and health center teams.
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Joe Borgenicht
Director, Strategic Communications
University of Utah Health System
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