Practice Unite has developed a mobile communication app geared to home health aides serving vulnerable seniors. The idea is to provide more efficient coordinated care and urgent care for seniors to help them stay in their homes longer.
Independence Care System is taking part in the pilot with Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute. ICS is a managed care system for 5,000 New Yorkers with multiple chronic conditions, such as late-stage ALS and multiple sclerosis. Many are dual eligible and 65 percent use a wheelchair, which makes them more vulnerable to urinary tract infections, wounds and respiratory infections which can trigger hospitalizations.
ICS coordinates care in several New York home care agencies, such as JASA Care, Cooperative Home Care Associates and Sunnyside Community Services.
In an interview with Adam Turinas, Practice Unite CEO at the ENGAGE conference this week, he explained that it is intended to be used by home health aides to fast track questionnaire results to ICS staff.
He explained that the goal of the pilot program is to reduce ER visits and avoidable hospitalization. It provides a way for home health aides to be in in constant communication with the care management team at ICS. Caregivers send daily clinical reports and updates on patients by answering a short list of questions. Photos can also be attached to these messages to highlight problems such as wounds or other problems. These messages are encrypted.
“It provides real-time feedback on the member that will help ICS stay ahead of problems and act more quickly,” Turinas said.
There has been a growing push for digital health tools that not only address some of the care coordination needs for seniors but also reduce their isolation and help them manage health needs more proactively. Although remote monitoring tools have been one of the active areas for product development, care coordination has become a higher priority of late.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
This week has been an especially active one for senior care digital health news, particularly with the White House Conference on Aging. Philips announced plans to develop a research lab around Boston and to work with MIT AgeLab so they can advise on the lab design and research program. Honor also deployed its online care coordination tool in San Francisco following a beta test in Costra County. AARP also revealed the results of the first study in its Project Catalyst initiative to work with adults over age 50 to roadtest digital health apps and devices.
