Integrated Care 101
What is Integrated Care?
Mass General Brigham Integrated Care provides the next step in patient care, where you can see your primary care providers and visit top specialists at one convenient location near you. Integrated Care is also a bridge to world-renowned hospitals and research when you need advanced medical care.
Our health care providers get to know the whole you, fostering collaboration between the specialists who work together in your care to give you easier access to your providers and to get answers quickly.
We provide a wide range of health services including:
- Primary care
- Behavioral health
- Imaging
- Outpatient surgery
- Specialty care
You can access services and care both virtually and at physical locations across the state and region.
Our Integrated Care locations include:
Learn about Mass General Brigham Integrated Care
What are some key benefits of Integrated Care?
The Integrated Care model offers these benefits for patients:
1. Relationship-centered care
Patients are empowered to be active members of their own health care teams. Providers partner with patients at each stage in their health care journey to achieve optimal health through preventive care, like routine health screenings, timely diagnosis, and treatments.
“We want to get to know our patients as whole human beings and we really want to build a relationship with patients,” explains Vice President of Operations Development, Lindsay Gainer, RN, MSN. Gainer trained as a registered nurse and has worked in a variety of settings as a health care leader for over 20 years. She’s worked in both inpatient and outpatient settings and saw a real need to help patients find care in a coordinated way.
“We believe that through care centered around relationships, we can best help people to health and wellness,” Gainer adds. “We don't want to just treat problems. We want people to be healthy and we believe that relationships with your physicians and the entire team are so important. We want people to have comfort and familiarity when they when they interact with our team.”
2. High-quality, holistic and coordinated care
Coordinated care is a patient-centered approach that involves health care providers working closely together to provide optimal care. In this model, primary care providers, behavioral health providers and other specialists foster strong relationships with each other so that everyone understands your health care plan and goals. They ensure you have access to the right care at the right time. We understand juggling appointments and testing can be stressful, so our patient navigators help coordinate the day-to-day details of your care.
3. Timely communications and information-sharing
Our centralized medical records and data provide patients and health care providers easy access to up-to-date health information to guide decision-making. All team members are familiar with your communication preferences and provide timely responses to your questions.
4. Convenient care close to home
We make it easy to access the care you need with locations in your community and flexibility to see providers virtually.
“Many of our patients drive downtown to Boston for care because they don’t have an offering near them,” explains Gainer. “Our locations in Watertown, Burlington, and soon in Salem, NH provide that same comprehensive care closer to home. Our hope is that these Integrated Care locations become familiar health destinations and an important part of these communities.”
Convenience isn’t just about proximity to home. Integrated Care providers can seamlessly connect patients to advanced hospital and specialty care throughout the Mass General Brigham Health system. This ensures patients have easy access to the right care at the right place.
“We also want to ensure that patients can access care conveniently and at times that work for their schedule,” adds Gainer. “We can deliver virtual care or in-person care close to home when needed, and because we are part of Mass General Brigham, we can also connect patients to hospital care when they need it.”
5. Access to the full spectrum of care across Mass General Brigham, an integrated, academic health care system
From the hospital to home, our Mass General Brigham health care system offers exceptional care in every part of the health journey. We leverage our expertise, compassion, and resources across our organizations to better serve you. The doctors doing the world-changing research across our system are the ones providing care. We offer advanced treatments and clinical trials that aren’t available elsewhere. Learn more about the full breadth and depth of our services and specialties.
