You hold a special position in the home-based care industry to make patient care more organized and effective in their homes. To grow these efforts across the U.S., you and the health care system must use more technology and deal with social determinants of health. This is a view shared by Ruth Raskas, president and chief operating officer at LiveWell Partners.
Why Home-Based Care is Key for Patient Support
Home-based care providers can choose the most suitable types of care for their patients. These may include:
- Physical therapy
- Speech therapy
- More support from a registered nurse
- Other needed services
Ruth Raskas stated, "Home-based care providers have the opportunity to determine which types of care are most appropriate for their patients, whether it be physical therapy, speech therapy, more support from a registered nurse or other services." She added that this "very unique, clear clinical pathway to help someone get better is just a tremendous opportunity."
Other organizations also recognize this focus. The National Alliance for Care at Home has pointed to structured patient support discussions with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Technology's Part in Scaling Care Coordination
For patient management to work well, it needs to be present throughout the entire health system, with primary care services and artificial intelligence (AI) playing a part.
Raskas notes the need for a balanced view on technology: "There are a lot of different entities suggesting the use of technology, use of AI as panaceas for all the challenges that we have. And the reality is, there are places where it works, and there are places where it’s not going to be as effective."
Some organizations are already moving forward. For example, Help at Home has a program for patient management designed to find client needs and foresee problems.
However, moving toward more tech-driven patient support presents challenges:
- Connecting different technology systems
- Training employees to use new tools
LiveWell is actively testing AI for tasks such as medication reconciliation, changing from manual entry to electronic records. The health care system can learn from other industries that have been quicker to use new tools.
Addressing Social Determinants for Aged Care
When you focus on patient support, you must also consider factors that influence health outside of medical care, like transportation and access to food. These are known as social determinants of health.
However, payment methods remain a barrier to delivering more organized health care. Raskas explains, "The question is, where is reimbursement driving that kind of coordination? I do think that the home is a place where there is an ability to get that kind of excellent coordination and at LiveWell, one of the things we are focused on in terms of our clinical teams is thinking about that and looking at those clinical pathways, looking at that care coordination, and really figuring out, what are the things that we can do to to help and support our patients."
To make home-based patient support successful for aged care, you need both smart technology and a focus on social determinants of health.
Learn more at Governa AI.
