Tuesday 22 May 2018

Home Care Technology Bridges More Than Care Gaps

Handoffs and Being in a Gap – Unique Home Care Problems with Specialized Solutions

In an industry that is trying to grapple with new regulations, mandates, corporate mergers, high turnover rates, EVV technology, and a very large baby-boomer population, home health care and home care clients face similar unknowns.  The complicated nature of home health care coupled with effects it has on patients’ care are well documented, however, there are innovations that can make the home care dynamic more effective.

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If one were to examine obstacles to quality care within the home care setting, he or she will soon realize that many intricate pieces must coalesce to create perfectly choreographed home care.  However, that does not mean the machinations driving continuum of care is forever flawed.

One example of fixable problem is illustrated by a study that shows a correlation between home health nurse handoffs and hospital readmission rates.According to Guy David and Kunhee Lucy Kim’s article, “The Effect of Workforce Assignment on Performance:  Evidence from Home Health Care,” published this month in the Journal of Health Economics, “a single handoff [a marker of care discontinuity] increases the likelihood of 30-day hospital readmission by 16 percent and one in four hospitalizations during home health care would be avoided if handoffs were eliminated. ”

Another barrier to quality home care is a wide-scale lack of organization experienced by home care patients.  In Home Health Care Management and Practice,MargarethaNorellPejner and Elisabeth Brobeck researched couples between ages 65-80 and their experiences of received home care.  They categorized their findings into three categories: organizational adapted; withholding; and being in a gap. 

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In brief, patients expressed concern over their support being limiting and not adapting to their individual needs, receiving insufficient information about care and processes, segmented knowledge of necessary care, and “not knowing where or who to turn to in case someone needed support was a struggle leading to a sense of being left in a gap. ”

In the first study, the problem is not that home care patients are readmitted to hospitals because more home care nurses are caring for them.  The issue lies with the information being ‘handed off’ to other care team members.Information must be specific, accurate, valid, and fresh for it to be effective.  

In the second study, the concerns were not based in the patients’ misunderstanding of the care, but the miscommunication among the entire care team.Further, transparent and consistent information sharing becomes the most critical element in reducing the impacts of incomplete handoffs and visibility. Fragmented information delivers fragmented care without the cohesion necessary to raise quality in a distributed care environment such as home care.

The importance of hospital-to-home care transition, education, and information portability should not be underestimated, and value-based care depends on these processes to be performed systematically. Regulations may not address such issues, but supporting technology can reduce readmission rates, and help the care team decrease inefficiencies with scheduling and detrimental gaps in the field.  Home care technology can also help clients become knowledgeable participants of their care plans.  Collaborative home care platforms, real-time visit alerts and EVV, care gaps and Change in Condition can only be beneficial if the entire care implements robust reports for the sake of providing quality care.

About Sinq Technologies 

 Sinq’s full-service, collaborative software platform was built with purpose in mind.  Sinq’s Care Plan Transparency, Care Gap Management, EVV, and Change in Care Monitoring makes Sinq’s software stand out within the industry.  We can help you become compliant, but our expansive software offers long-term solutions for the betterment of your agency and clients.  Call today for more information, a free demo, or a consultation at (847) 325-5007, or visit us at www.sinq.io

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