Salt Lake City, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/11/2020 --Intermountain Healthcare was again recognized by healthcare leaders and physicians across the nation as one of the top systems for innovation, delivery transformation, and controlling costs.

A nationwide survey from Reaction Data, a national healthcare research organization, surveyed 552 healthcare leaders throughout the nation about health systems they identified as national leaders for healthcare innovations. For the second consecutive year, Intermountain was named the fourth most recognized health system in the nation for innovation, along with the Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, and the Cleveland Clinic.

Major Intermountain innovations in recent years include the adoption and implementation of TeleHealth services, such as Connect Care, which allows caregivers and patients to do virtual video clinical visits. In March, the number of video visits through the Connect Care video platform was nearly 7,000, but in April that number skyrocketed to more than 64,000 online visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Connect Care platform and app has become invaluable for patients and the community to access care during the pandemic.

"It's proven invaluable in helping patients get the care and information they need during the COVID-19 pandemic," said Albert Marinez, chief analytics officer at Intermountain Healthcare. "This didn't happen overnight – and it shows why Intermountain's continued focus on innovation is so important to the future of healthcare."

The Intermountain TeleHealth service currently provides 35 specialty services to 19 partnering agencies in seven western states.

"Our TeleHealth services ensure that patients are getting expert medical treatment closer to home, which has shown to improve medical outcomes," said Marinez. "It also means rural hospitals and clinics have immediate access to specialists without having to have them on staff locally, which helps manage costs while ensuring that patients have the access to the very best specialists in the region."

Many of these innovations are part of Intermountain's adoption of a value-based care model which incentivizes best clinical outcomes for the community, instead of focusing on a traditional fee for service model. This helps reduce the cost of healthcare while focusing on best practices in providing care for patients and encouraging healthy behaviors.

Intermountain is also widely recognized as a national leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes and sustainable costs.

Intermountain Healthcare is a not-for-profit system of 24 hospitals, 215 clinics, a Medical Group with 2,500 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians, a health insurance company called SelectHealth, and other health services in Idaho, Utah, and Nevada. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes and sustainable costs. For more information, see intermountainhealthcare.org.