Philips signs 3-year deal with Suncrest Healthcare to provide home telemonitoring technology.
FirstChoice Home Health of Ohio selects CareAnyware.
Embark Health launches its online Advance Directive Solution service.
Philips signs 3-year deal with Suncrest Healthcare.
Nashville, Tennessee-based SunCrest Healthcare, Inc., a regional provider of home health, private duty, companion care and therapy services, has selected Philips to be its provider of telehealth monitors for home care patients.
“We selected Philips as a partner after a long evaluation process because of their innovative track record in healthcare, both in the acute setting and in home care,” stated John W. Dant III, president and CEO, SunCrest Healthcare.
FirstChoice Home Health of Ohio Selects CareAnyware.
CareAnyware, Inc. announced last week that FirstChoice Home Health of Cleveland will implement the Cary, North Carolina software vendor’s web-based software to manage operations in all six of its Ohio locations. FirstChoice will replace its client/server system with CareAnyware’s web based solution.
FirstChoice Home Health is a division of FirstChoice, an Ohio company that also offers medical staffing solutions. Due to an expanding patient census and growing operational requirements, FirstChoice Home Health needed a home care software solution that would help them manage multiple locations, automate their clinicians in the field and provide management reporting. FirstChoice determined that CareAnyware’s home care management software provided them the opportunity to consolidate their management efforts in a centralized, web-based system.
FirstChoice needed to improve communication and documentation and decided a web-based, point-of-care system would help. “We needed a software solution that would scale with our organization,” says Charles Slone, CEO of FirstChoice Home Health. “With six separate offices throughout the state and a large patient census, we needed a product flexible enough to keep up with our growth.”
Online Advance Directive service launched
You heard two weeks ago about an innovative new company with an online service to overcome the problem of having Advance Directive documents available when they are needed. This week, Embark Health, Inc. officially opened its virtual doors and began to accept online registrations for its Advance Directive Solution (ADS).
Subscribers fill out a state-specific, legal AD form at
http://www.embarkhealth.com/ads.html in which they document their final wishes.
For an enrollment fee of
$85 plus $26 annual membership, registered users receive access to 24/7 telephone support, training for a designated healthcare spokesperson, an ID card, stickers to attach to drivers licenses and credit cards
(where permitted) and limited access to attorney consultation in the event that conflicts arise when the documents are ultimately used.
Embark Health also promises to track federal and state laws and contact subscribers if changes require updating their documents. Subscribers can access their secure account to make their own changes in the event their circumstances change or they simply change their mind. Embark is partnering with Health Plans, Hospitals, Employers, Charities, Physician Groups, Home Care Companies and other organizations who want to offer this to their clients and members.
Such a service is needed, according to Embark Health Chief Development Officer Bill Behnke, because only about 15% of Americans have advance directives. Even those who do still do not have their wishes followed in many cases. The document may be lost, or hard to find when it is needed quickly, or even locked away in a safe deposit box, the key’s location known only to an unconscious person. Frequently it has not been updated in years, even if laws may have changed. Occasionally, family members may disagree with its provisions, or healthcare providers may be reluctant to follow them. “We hope to solve all these problems,” Behnke told VW, “for patients and their families and healthcare workers alike.”
Next week:
Interview with an agency administrator who recently heard a state surveyor say, “I like how easy it is to locate patient information in your software.” and “Your visits are well-documented because of the format of your forms.” and “I have never gotten through a visit so fast.” Find out next week who the lucky agency is and what software system it uses.
