Anthony Ward, regional vice president of Trillium
WADESBORO — Last Tuesday, Trillium Health Resources held a town hall style meet and greet for Anson County residents, held at the Lockhart Taylor Center.
Encouraged to bring their health insurance questions, Anson County residents delivered, showing up in large numbers to attend the meet and greet.
Trillium CEO Joy Futrell largely fielded questions from the crowd, assisted by Trillium’s Regional Vice President Anthony Ward.
“Our goal is to find creative and sustainable solutions to providing healthcare that works for the community,” said Futrell.
Breaking down the numbers, Futrell explained that Anson County has a population of roughly 22,000 people, and of those, 9,600 people are insured through medicaid, 3,000 of those are covered through a Trillium health plan. Trillium currently serves 46 North Carolina counties that are further divided into 5 regions that have similar population numbers and cultural demographics. Seeking to adjust healthcare to meet community needs, Trillium sets up an advisory board in all of the communities it serves consisting of one county commissioner, Priscilla Little-Reid, and one healthcare professional, Keisha Dunlap.
One way Trillium Health Resources is offering creative solutions is through removing pre-authorizations for mental health care and addiction services.
“If the person is ready to get help today the worst thing you can do is turn that person away because they end up back on the streets and using … we do not want that for people. We want to remove that red tape… we want those services to be in place when the person is ready,” Futrell said. “The state actually has set a target goal of providing service within 48 hours.”
In addition to removing pre-authorization barriers for mental health and addiction services, Trillium offers exciting healthcare plan options, through state and federal funding.
Regional Vice President Anthony Ward detailed many of the health care services offered through Trillium, including Healing Place in Wilmington for substance abuse patients, Victory Junction Camp for physical and special needs individuals, and Kennedy House for those receiving treatment for mental health issues.
An example of sustainable health care in action, Trillium sponsors Oxford House, which uniquely allows for adults in recovery to move in, obtain a job, and begin adapting to the daily grind of working to pay bills. Oxford House is open to an array of former substance abusers and those that live there are encouraged to interview and select their own roommates.
As the town hall was attended by many professionals in the healthcare field, many nurses questioned the procedure for getting their substance abuse and mental health patients same day care as well as preventative measures Trillium can offer repeat patients that ER nurses see end up back on the street or in jail. Of concern to many, is a belief that physicians are currently cherry picking who they provide care to, leading Futrell to say, “People have rights and unless they are a danger to others or themselves you cannot hold them… so many providers are short staffed… but if you know of someone cherry picking patients, file a complaint. Please file a complaint so that we can research that issue.”
Futrell encouraged nurses to call Trillium’s health care provider line directly to set up care when a patient comes into the ER ready to receive mental health or substance abuse care.
Trillium representatives received many questions regarding the closure of Anson’s Children Center, a big loss for the community that many believed closed because Trillium pulled its funding.
Futrell said Trillium was saddened by the loss and though they had worked with the center, closing was unavoidable.
“Trillium had nothing to do with Anson’s Children Center closing. After COVID hit, they ran into staffing challenges. Providers said there was no way financially forward… they could not afford the building.”
A home health care worker in attendance questioned why NMET, or non-medical emergency transportation, “takes too long for rides, if you are picked up at 6 a.m. why are you getting back from a doctor’s appointment at 4 or 5 p.m.?”
“That is our number one member issue,” Futrell said. “Transportation time is definitely on our list of identified needed improvements. Nationally it [transportation] is always a problem.”
Also mentioned is the lack of eye doctors in Anson County that accept Trillium health plans, leading to questions of, “Where are Trillium clients supposed to go?”
“We will definitely be taking that back, because we filled the medicaid gap but I am not sure about vision… dentists are not part of managed healthcare… but we will certainly take that information back and look at it,” Futrell said.
More information about Trillium’s various healthcare plans and services can be found on their website, www.trilliumhealthresources.org or by calling Member and Recipient Services at 1-877-685-2415, or Provider Support Services at 1-855-250-1539, or Behavioral Health Crisis at 1-888-302-0738.