Long-term care is defined as, “A variety of services that includes medical and non-medical care to people who have a chronic illness or disability. Long-term care can be provided at home, in the community, in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.” (International Federation of Ageing) As people age, they become susceptible to multiple chronic conditions, and reliant on a caregiver to perform daily tasks and live safely. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) helps older adults to manage their chronic conditions at home, decrease hospital readmission, and increase independence. “RPM uses wireless devices such as blood pressure monitors, glucometer adapters, tablet, EKG recorder, and pulse oximeter.” (Rockoff: 2015) Patients use these devices …show more content…
It involves using a technology to fulfill specific IT initiatives of the organization (Wager, Frances and John: 2009) Let’s identify two important organizational initiatives in healthcare. First, they must work toward reducing patient readmission to the hospital to avoid penalties from CMS’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. Second, they must control the rising costs of treating the growing population of older adults. Keeping these two initiatives in mind, healthcare providers must implement remote patient monitoring in such a way that fulfills these initiatives. The good news is, both initiatives work hand-in-hand to reduce hospital readmission, avoid penalties, and decrease hospital costs. For this to work, every single patient with a chronic disease must be discharged with the appropriate RPM device(s) that help control the corresponding chronic condition. On top of that, healthcare providers must routinely follow-up with the patients by email, telephone, or house visits to make sure that patients are actively using the RPM device(s) and improving their …show more content…
The first concern is the cost of RPM devices. There is a significant up-front cost of purchasing large amounts of monitoring devices – it seems like a risky investment to healthcare providers. Second concern is staffing needs. Some doctors might complaint that they don’t have time during the day to monitor patients’ vital signs. Somebody at the healthcare facility must daily oversee the incoming data, and respond immediately if the data is showing negative results. Third concern is receiving too much data. Healthcare providers must appropriately organize the data being received and translate it into meaningful information. Last concern is training. The three stakeholders for RPM are healthcare providers, patients and caregivers. All of them must learn how to use the RPM devices and how to successful transmit data between the patients’ home and healthcare
...ward understanding the cost benefit of telemedicine applications. Hospital Topics: Research and Perspectives on Healthcare
Long-term care (LTC) covers a wide range of clinical and social services for those who need assistance due to functional limitations. These limitations usually result from complications associated with age related chronic conditions, from disabilities related to birth defects, brain damage, or mental retardation in children; or from major illnesses or injuries suffered by adults (Shi L. & Singh D.A., 2011). LTC encompasses a variety of services including traditional clinical services, social services and housing. Unlike acute care, long-term care is much more complicated and has objectives that are much harder to measure. Acute care mainly focuses on returning patients to their previous functional level and is primarily provided by specialty providers. However, LTC mainly focuses on preventing the physical and mental deterioration of an individual and promoting social adjustments to suit the different stages of decline. In addition the providers of LTC are more diverse than those in acute care and is offered in both formal and informal settings, which include: hospitals, physicians, home care, adult day care, nursing home care, assisted living and even informal caregivers such as friends and family members. Long-term care services have been dominated by community based services, which include informal care (86%, about 10 to 11 million) and formal institutional care delivered in nursing facilities (14%, 1.6 million) (McCall, 2001). Of more than the 10 million Americans estimated to require LTC services, 58% are elderly and 42% are under the age of 65 (Shi L. & Singh D.A., 2011). The users of LTC are either frail elderly or disabled and because of the specific care needs of this population, the care varies based on an indiv...
Though the benefits of IT are numerous, successful adoption into healthcare has been difficult. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (2004) states, “barriers include the cost and complexity of IT implementation, which necessitates significant work process and cultural changes” (p. 158). These challenges, sadly, have resulted in a series of ineffective systems.
Telehealth is the monitoring via remote exchange of physiological data between a patient at home and health care professionals at hospitals or clinics to assist with diagnosis and treatment. As our society ages and health care costs increase, government and private insurance payers are seeking technological interventions. Technological solutions may provide high quality healthcare services at a distance, utilize professional resources more effectively, and enable elderly and ill patients to remain in their own homes. Patients may experience decreased hospitalization and urgent care settings, and out of home care may not be required as the patient is monitored at home. However, no study has been able to prove telehealth benefits conclusively. This change in health care delivery presents new ethical concerns, and new relationship boundaries between health care professionals, patients, and family members. This paper will discuss telehealth benefits in specific patient populations, costs benefits of using telehealth, and concerns of using telehealth.
Interoperability of a smart pump is critically important. The ability to instantly capture as well as manage patient data takes on an increasing role for improving patient safety, staff productivity, and financial performance (Wellspan Health, 2015). The most important aspect of the smart pump is the added safety and efficiency of the use of the pumps to allow nurses to focus their attention on caring for the patient (Wellspan Health, 2015). Earlier this year, the Alaris was rated as the industry leader for interoperability with EMRs in the Smart pump/ EMR integration report that had been released from KLAS. KLAS is an organization who monitors the performance of healthcare organizations (Alaris, 2016). The Alaris contains advanced technology that notifies clinicians when an infusion is outside the normal parameters, helping to avoid errors related to medication infusion (Alaris, 2016). Some important features offered by the Alaris include: Guardrails Suite MX safety software with large volume pumps, PCA, respiratory monitoring through EtCO2, and/or pulse oximetry measurement of SpO2, syringe and bar-coding capabilities to help protect every type of infusion available (Alaris, 2016). The Alaris can be updated wirelessly with order parameters of the infusion directly
Bowles, K., Holland, D., & Horowitz, D. (2009). A comparison of in-person home care, home care with telephone contact and home care with telemonitoring for disease management. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, (15), 344-350. doi: 10.1258/jtt.2009.090118
Administrative Mandates, including the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, ICD-10 and HIPAA 5010, are all part of administrative simplification and the need for systems optimiza...
of medical devices are used by millions of health care providers around the world.” (Powell-
The reason this sort of placement occurs is because health assessments and medical care have traditionally required face-to-face meetings. Smart Home technology can help these older adults stay in their own homes and maintain their independence with the use of smart sensor technology. The technology can detect ones safety, activity levels around them, mobility adaptability, and health screening (Courtney, Demiris, Rantz, Skubic). Smart home technologies are information-based technologies that passively collect and share resident information with the resident and family members, in addition to primary care providers. These devices collect multiple types of data, which include physiological, location, or movement data.
middle of paper ... ... ficiency and effectiveness of care • Provides caregivers with clinical decision support tools • Reduces and possibly eliminates redundant / unnecessary testing • Improved reporting and monitoring of public health and related statistics • Provides a basic level of interoperability among electronic health records (EHRs) maintained by individual physicians and organizations • Hopefully will eventually reduce health related costs (HealthIT.gov, 2013) While the thought is good and outcomes still in prediction phase, the current reality is that there is still a hefty financial impact to be worked out. There will always be a safety and privacy concerns and long as new and emerging technologies continue to need integrations, and HIE will only work with long term political support and financial backing not driven by individual gain, but rather by collective collaborations.
Haddad,M (2010).Technology helps track healthcare providers. Health Management Technology, 31 (5), 24-25. Health Source-Consumer Edition
The present environments for healthcare organizations contain many forces demanding unprecedented levels of change. These forces include changing demographics, increased customer outlook, increased competition, and strengthen governmental pressure. Meeting these challenges will require healthcare organizations to go through fundamental changes and to continuously inquire about new behavior to produce future value. Healthcare is an information-intensive process. Pressures for management in information technology are increasing as healthcare organizations feature to lower costs, improve quality, and increase access to care. Healthcare organizations have developed better and more complex. Information technology must keep up with the dual effects of organizational complication and continuous progress in medical technology. The literature review will discuss how health care organizations can provide effective care by the intellectual use of information.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is reshaping the health care system in the United States at an accelerating rate. In earlier times US Healthcare system was more focused on intervention of diseases, but now it is moving more towards preventive approach and I see Health IT as the most important tool that can lead this change. I strongly believe that my professional goals, range and depth of my experience and knowledge is an asset and my enthusiasm for the field makes me an ideal candidate for the Master of Professional Studies in Technology Management (Health Information Technology) program at Georgetown University.
From state and federal levels, the healthcare industry has come a very long way, experiencing changes along the way. The development of advanced technology that has enhanced the quality of healthcare delivery systems will help all patients to be able to benefit. Doctors are able to access patient records at a faster rate and respond to their patients in a much more timely fashion. E-mail, electronic transfer of records and telemedicine will give all patients and physicians the tools needed to be more efficient, deliver quality care and deliver quality telecommunication at a faster pace than before.
Frequent false alarms account for "80% to 99%" of all equipment alerts. In addition, false alarms cause interruptions to a nurse's workflow leading to mistakes and patient harm (George & Martin, 2014). A cause for false alarms is that monitoring equipment parameters are too sensitive. One solution would be to customize the alerting systems on medical devices according to the population served. Next, medical devices used for monitoring the status of a patient need to be used selectively.