By Aspire Indiana Health

These are extraordinary times. Since the middle of March, everyone has been striving to do their best to
navigate this challenging new environment in the safest way possible. All the while, seeking to do so with
as little disruption to everyday life as possible.

However, the pandemic and associated restrictions brought to light that many organizations had gaps in
their ability to provide services in different ways than in person with “shared air.” Some businesses had
the time to come up with solutions. For those of us working in the field of health care, that luxury did not
exist. Our clients needed to have access to primary care and mental health treatment even more so
during this time of unprecedented stress and uncertainty.

When shelter-in-place rules came down in March, Aspire was uniquely situated to transition to telehealth
delivery of primary medical and behavioral health care through video meetings. We quickly redeployed
our staff from working on-site to working from home and embraced video meetings as our platform for
most patient appointments.

Before COVID-19, we had averaged seven video appointments a day. Within two days, that number hit
400 per day; 500 a day within a week; and 700+ appointments a day within two weeks, a level we’ve
maintained since.

As a result, while other health care providers have had to cancel appointments, reduce service hours,
close programs or facilities and lay off staff, Aspire has been operating at virtually the same pace since
mid-March. We are now seeing clients again in our clinics with in-person appointments as well as
maintaining our telehealth video visits.

In this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting circumstances have shown how important it is to be
able to find new and creative ways to care for the people in our communities. As Barbara Scott, President
& CEO of Aspire Indiana Health, has said, “Some health care experts have said that virtual health care
may be here to stay, and we at Aspire Indiana Health hope so.” Virtual health care through face-to-face
video meetings is another way to give more people access to primary and mental health care from their
homes and communities. Aspire’s quick response to this public health crisis without the interruption of
services validates the commitment of our organization to providing quality care for our clients.

Aspire Indiana Health is a non-profit, fully integrated health care provider with services that include primary medical care, behavioral health, addictions services and programs addressing social determinants of health such as housing and employment. Historically our focus has been serving at-risk Hoosiers as part of Indiana’s safety net. We are certified by the state as a Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) in Marion, Hamilton, Boone and Madison counties, and by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).

Below is the link to an infographic we produced that shows comparisons to how Aspire has performed
compared to other non-profit health care providers in Indiana and nationwide:
www.aspireindiana.org/blog/2020/4/29/aspire-covid-19-performance-stats