Creating Connected Care

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is expected to significantly move forward the reality of electronic medical records and patient-centric care. A different, but parallel, force in the home health and hospice industry is the recent announcements of companies like GE and Intel's investment in home health technology. Combined, these trends speak to the growing importance of home health technology. Home health continues to grow at a breath-taking pace - but remains one of the least automated industries in the country.

To take advantage of the nearly infinite opportunities that exist, home health and hospice organizations must critically examine their technology platforms - or risk being unable to compete in the marketplace. If diverse corporate giants are ensuring they possess exceptional home health technology, shouldn't those focused solely on this industry be even more vigilant?

Connected Care - Necessary to Thrive
It is highly recommended that home health and hospice organizations examine if their technology platform is able to rapidly connect to other electronic medical records. Can your platform automatically incorporate patient information from many different sources - lab results, interdisciplinary charting, wound photos, diverse providers for a single patient? Or, as the industry grows and changes, will you drown in administrative work - trying to gather and input information into a platform that isn't connected to the full spectrum of care? Will you be able to grow, or even just survive, if long-term staffing shortages continue - even as the patient census grows?

Strategic Automation to Achieve Growth
A comprehensive technology platform will enable to you to improve patient care through increased automation, providing thorough up-to-date information throughout your entire organization and to the spectrum of healthcare providers. A foundational element necessary for connected care is a system built on an integration engine. Integration engines enable disparate systems to communicate and exchange information. When this is a core component of a system, instead of being another bolt-on module, it enables tighter integration, making the systems work together seamlessly. Other key elements to look for in any technology platform are a proven track record of rapidly building interfaces across the healthcare spectrum and automatically tracking and updating each patient account with information from diverse sources.

All trends continue to indicate that the home is the hospital of the future. These are exciting times for home health and hospice. Ensure that your technology platform will enable you to capitalize on the opportunities.