In my last blog post, I talked about how technology and the need to curb rising healthcare costs are creating unprecedented opportunities to explore new models of care delivery in patients’ homes. Today, I will share an example of how technology is disrupting traditional healthcare delivery models and facilitating full-team communication and collaboration that leads to improved patient outcomes.

Just last month, I had an opportunity to learn about a novel ‘acute-care-at-home’ model. As part of the model, emergency room or clinic patients being admitted to the hospital, and who meet carefully researched clinical criteria, are offered the option of getting their full-service ‘hospital’ care at their instantly hi-tech-equipped home. By combining the high-touch service level of the traditional house call with 21st-century mobile technology and telehealth platforms featuring full-team communication interfaces, many episodes that currently cause hospitalizations can be successfully treated in the home. This in turn allows hospitals and emergency rooms to focus on critical cases and real emergencies.

The key to this care model is full-team communication enabled by technology. A biometric hub captures vital signs and enables physicians to monitor and track pulse, weight and blood pressure remotely at any time. There is instant, 24/7 access to a medical professional via real-time video interaction at the push of a button. Medical alerts are sent easily and reliably through a Personal Emergency Response System that is internet-enabled. The multi-disciplinary care team, which includes physician assistants, nurses, therapists, social workers, and licensed home health aides, are all fully connected, with real-time access to the patient’s electronic medical record, and empowered to make the appropriate interventions.

This is a preview of what’s coming to healthcare in the near future. The healthcare industry is poised for even more dramatic change in the coming years as advances in technology enable more collaboration across different care settings.

This direction is not surprising. Several surveys show that most patients prefer to receive their care at home, and technology will continue to drive innovation in care models and facilitate full-team communication that is necessary to achieve improved patient outcomes. By combining their group model and proprietary care protocols with higher levels of service and sophisticated technology platforms, much of the care provided in hospitals today can be safely delivered in the home, with greater patient satisfaction.  Healthcare providers are increasingly adopting software systems making the patient’s electronic medical record securely available online to all members of the multi-disciplinary care team, for accurate and timely interventions. In acute care settings, some of this communication is happening already.

Imagine a scenario in which a patient is discharged from a hospital and a nurse visiting the patient’s home has real-time access to comprehensive patient assessments, discharge instructions, care plans, physician orders, progress notes, treatment and teaching tools on diseases, medication and allergy lookups, visit schedules and so much more. The nurse is able to instantly notify the physician and other members of the multi-disciplinary care team of changes in the patient’s condition that warrant updates to the care plan using secure, internet-enabled devices. In the post-acute world, home health agencies nationwide are utilizing advanced web-based software solutions that interface with hospital systems and allow them to exchange information and focus directly on patient care.

Technology systems integrated with the right electronic medical records systems help keep patients at the center of care planning, empower clinicians with tools and training they need, and facilitate communication and collaboration within and across care settings that leads to improved patient outcomes. Everyone benefits when patients are getting better, when hospitals reduce preventable readmissions, and when we can finally curb the rising cost of healthcare.