With the aging U.S. population and the pandemic-induced focus on remote services, more health care services are now available at home. A growing number of providers and health plans are testing the waters by choosing services or expanding existing home care capacity.
While this transition is unfolding, there is a growing shortage of clinical and operational staff to support medical services beyond hospital campuses. Most organizations simply do not have the workforce to adequately manage remote patient populations.
The situation has gotten to this point American Hospital Association has called it a national emergency and is persecute congress Help solve workforce challenges. Healthcare team members are exhausted and burnout is a problem.
In these difficult situations, providers and health plans need to find ways to support their teams without overworking them, and they need to make team members feel that their work is impactful, meaningful, and helpful to patients.
An increasing number of health organizations are turning to technology to address some of the complex challenges associated with moving care from traditional acute settings to families and communities. For many, investments in key tools and technology can increase efficiency and empower existing employees.
Real-time communication is the cornerstone
Technology is key to extending coverage into the home, while maintaining connections with home partners and providers throughout the care environment.
The goal is to use technology to focus on the right patient signals at the right time, rather than being distracted by unnecessary data points that do not require action. Exception management, predictive modeling triggers, and patient feedback all help determine in real-time who may need intervention and ensure no one falls into the cracks.
Doing this successfully requires a combination of objective clinical data, often from some form of remote monitoring technology or device, and subjective insights and feedback from patients and caregivers. Have a loss of appetite? How is the patient sleeping? Has liquidity changed?
Physical indicators from devices like blood pressure cuffs, blood glucose meters, and pulse oximeters are important, but no device can tell you about isolation or depression.
Connecting different points of care and providers and aligning them with the same goals—while keeping the patient at the center—can positively impact outcomes and keep more patients safe and well cared for at home.
To prevent misrepresentation or omission of patient information and gain visibility into communications, provider organizations and health plans should consider a centralized platform that enables endpoint providers and clinicians to connect and communicate, and provide visibility into those communications . Such a platform should allow plug-and-play integration of different types of technologies, including objective and subjective inputs, so that everyone can be on the same page, with real-time two-way communication, with visibility and transparency among all care team members.
The data that drives proactive care
We are still in the early days of home care, and technology will continue to play a central role in improving care delivery and outcomes. Going forward, we need more ways to engage and activate patients. We need more real-time patient feedback, not only at critical moments, but throughout the care process.
A lot of times, we don’t talk to patients until they have a problem. Frequent registration, ongoing monitoring, and the opportunity to intervene quickly when needs change will provide a more complete picture of patients and help people stay home safely.
