“We know that when it comes to disease management, many patients don’t learn as well from their providers as they do from people who are similar to them.”
Team up with successful patients. Help those who are struggling.
Find out how peer mentoring can drive better outcomes for your patients.
There’s nothing like support from someone who’s been there.
Lived experience doesn’t always translate into effective mentorship.
When mentors and patients have limited common ground, their relationships may lack the depth to support real progress.
To ensure ample opportunity for a meaningful relationship to develop, InquisitHealth builds common ground into every mentor-patient relationship. Each pair is matched based on shared clinical conditions, personality, age, challenges, language, ethnicity, comorbidities, medication types, demographics, availability and more.
And to reliably translate those relationships into consistent improvements in clinical outcomes, every InquisitHealth mentor completes a comprehensive training program and follows an evidence-based process as they engage with patients.
The result: better connection, better guidance — and better outcomes.
Peer Mentor University™
Our evidence-based training program
Peer Mentor University™, our online education and training platform for peer mentors, was designed and created in collaboration with academic experts and clinicians at the University of California, San Francisco, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan.
PMUTM gives each of our mentors access to
10+ Hours of Training
Covering everything from coaching skills (e.g., motivational interviewing) to condition-specific content (e.g., monitoring blood glucose).
Interactive Activities + Live Practice Sessions
Opportunities to practice realistic scenarios through interactive activities and live practice sessions with experienced coaches.
Educational Materials
An ever-expanding library of educational materials and exercises to refresh core concepts, introduce advanced material, and continually refine coaching skills.
Ongoing Support
Peer mentors receive coaching and support from other mentors, as well as mentor advisors, through team calls, webinars, and group chats.
Through PMU™, mentors acquire the knowledge, coaching skills, and tools needed to inspire behavior change. In addition, each mentor is required to pass a series of scenario-based exams, written tests and a background check before their first interaction with a patient. Even then, more responsibility and more patients to help only come as a result of successfully passing an ongoing series of rigorous performance reviews.
Real relationships, real results
It’s much easier to feel understood when the person you’re talking to really does understand.
Our goal is to foster genuine rapport that quickly matures into camaraderie and mutual empowerment. In addition to having the same condition, each mentor-patient pair is systematically matched based on shared language, age, ethnicity, personality, challenges, demographics, comorbidities, medication types, availability and more.
Mentor Diversity
Our trained peer mentor population is quite diverse:
12
Languages
Spanish, Hindi,
Russian, Haitian Creole…
19
Ethnicities
Russian, Italian,
Trinidadian, Cuban, …
50
Years
28 to 78
years young!
When patients feel consistently supported by someone who has overcome the same challenges, stigmas and behavioral obstacles they’re facing, they’re more likely to be open to the information, guidance, and encouragement they’re given — which directly impacts outcomes.
We match our pre-trained mentors with your patients. Optionally, we can also recruit and train mentors from your population.
How our mentors help your patients
Our mentors follow an outcome-focused process designed to help patients implement the key behaviors needed to manage their condition effectively.
For example, diabetes patients learn healthy eating habits, tips for taking medication consistently and best practices for monitoring blood sugar levels. Once challenges are identified, patients — with their mentor’s support — can start working on areas of weakness and building better habits.
To help your patients reach their goals, our mentors work with them to
Set Goals and Create an Individualized Plan
Our mentors always start by asking patients for the recommendations their doctors and nurses have given them. The mentor’s objective is to help your patients understand and implement their medical team’s recommendations — not give their own.
Mentors and patients then collaboratively set focused, personalized goals to help make meaningful progress toward meeting those recommendations.
Overcome barriers and take consistent action
Mentors help patients implement self-management behaviors and overcome difficulties as they work toward their goals. If asked for medical advice at any time, they help patients set a goal to reach out to their provider to get that advice.
Regularly engage with their goals and outcomes
Initially, patients receive weekly calls. Depending on individual interest and need, calls progressively ramp down in frequency. Between calls, if the patient has a smartphone, mentors and patients send messages to check-in on goals and share content via our PeerMentor™ app.
To make sure best practices are being followed, mentors’ calls are recorded and reviewed on an ongoing basis.
Mentor-patient spotlight
Our platform is powered by tech, not dependent on it. None of our programs require you or your patients to purchase new hardware or navigate new software: no hardware costs and no barriers to supporting your patients.
Jeanette
PATIENT
Starting HbA1c: 11.7%.
Current HbA1c: 7.9%.
Jeanette is on insulin. When starting the program, she was not checking her blood sugar regularly. The finger sticks were too painful. Her diet was also a constant problem. She got very little exercise.
Thanks to the help of her mentor, Boswell, everything changed! Now, she is checking her blood sugar every day. She increased her walking by 10 minutes every day. She slowly increased the intensity of her exercise. She has also found low carbohydrate foods and drink replacements. Instead of regular soda, she now prefers club soda.
All of these small steps helped her achieve a 3.8% reduction in her A1c level.
Boswell
JEANETTE’S MENTOR
“I have been fighting with diabetes myself for decades, so I get it. I patiently work with my peers to help them get on track by testing their blood sugar, eating a healthy diet, and getting more exercise. They are seeing their A1cs go down!”
“I’m excited to reach out to my community to help my fellow peers manage their diabetes. I want to help them to live their life peacefully and reduce the stress of this disease.”
Find out how peer mentors can drive better outcomes for your patients.