Risk-bearing, in-home medical group, Upward Health conquers complex provider data hurdles with Medallion’s platform

About Upward Health

Upward Health, an in-home medical group treating needs across physical, behavioral and social health domain, treats complex patients and ensures equitable access to high-quality care.

Since 2019, the company has expanded into at least one new state annually, delivering its whole-person care model nationwide.

Upward Health ranks No. 7 on the 2023 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. and has a diverse team across 25 states.

Upward Health contended with manual tasks that cost them thousands of extra dollars

Colleen Wham joined Upward Health as one of the first employees, and now, six and a half years later, is the Director of Business Services.

In her role, Colleen wears many hats, and one of them includes oversight of the licensing and credentialing work Upward Health does with its team of physicians, nurse practitioners, RNs and social workers and its multiple entities. 

She found herself managing the process for both behavioral health and physical health providers across multiple license levels and doing it all by hand.

Colleen shares these responsibilities with just one other colleague.

Before Medallion, Colleen grappled with manual task management for new licenses and renewals and two failed relationships with external vendors.

Beyond recognizing the room for error in this manual process, Colleen discovered most of the applications completed by the external vendors were filled with errors and/or dormant due to poor follow up with the boards. In the end, nearly all of these applications would require complete resubmission.

“Once we really scrutinized these vendors, we realized it was a big problem. We spent thousands of extra dollars on applications that never resulted in licensure.

And on top of this, the impact to our growth into new states was most concerning. It's critical to have providers ready to serve patients as you grow,” Colleen described.

As Upward Health navigated a period of hyper growth, Colleen knew this way of doing things had to go if they were going to be able to scale successfully.

She emphasized the critical need for a team-based approach, prioritizing the use of a platform that enabled licensing providers in advance of new state expansions.

Transforming provider data management, creating stronger workflows

Medallion's end-to-end licensure process, which runs on its provider data management platform, has transformed operations for Colleen and Upward Health.

Colleen can now replace manual work with automation — resulting in stronger management workflows for new and existing providers in any state — and greater transparency in the process every step of the way. 

Instead of spending time following up on license status, managing evolving state license requirements, renewals and expirations, or dealing with incomplete provider profiles, her attention can be directed toward areas that significantly impact organizational growth and client satisfaction.

For Colleen, Medallion’s platform has made organizing provider information much more effective and easy, and has created a better experience for when providers join Upward Health. 

“Every step on Medallion’s platform is logical, clear and it simplifies the back and forth with a provider for getting them set up to do their job,” Colleen said.

Four key benefits emerged from Upward Healths’ partnership with Medallion:

1. Empowering efficient provider communication and satisfaction

In-platform guidance, notes and notifications mean providers spend less time on applications and profile updates — or also figuring out what they need to do next. “Our providers like that they only have to operate in one place, and we ask them fewer questions, so they can focus on patient care,” Colleen shared.

2. Unlocking seamless provider data management

“Our licensing work was in many stages of disarray before Medallion,” Colleen explained. Now, she can uniformly manage data across her entire provider network — from renewal, expiration and completion dates to notes and outstanding requests — in one place and with ease.

3. Growing with the right strategic partner

According to Colleen, Medallion’s “biggest selling point” is that she views Medallion as “another member of my team.” She goes on to say, “Being able to manage renewals across multiple states has been a headache for us. Medallion takes the guesswork out of it all. I can clearly see that things are moving at all times and I’m not worried about having pending licenses sitting out there by the wayside. For me, this has been huge.”

4. Enhancing provider onboarding and engagement

Through Medallion’s platform, Upward Health has enhanced their provider onboarding experience, centralizing data and streamlining processes.

Meeting comprehensive patient care with Medallion

“Our mission is to meet the needs of the ‘whole person’,” noted Colleen.

“Managing different stages of the licensure process, at different times, across so many provider types, is critical to provide the level of service and patient care to a complex and diverse population.”

It takes the right partner who can address both physical and behavioral health provider requirements uniformly. For Colleen, that’s Medallion.

So what would Colleen say to other healthcare operations leaders considering Medallion?

"Licensing and credentialing isn’t an exciting world, but it's necessary. As virtual care is something more and more patients are requesting, it is beneficial to consider licensing providers across states. It helps ensure access will not be our issue. Having a team-based approach with a seamless platform greatly simplifies this work," says Colleen.