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1 Year Report: Maine’s Leading Home Health Agency Reduces Readmissions by 75% with Cutting Edge Technology from HRS
Tue, 04/26/2016 - 08:43 - Laurie Orlov
SACO, Maine--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HomeHealth Visiting Nurses of Southern Maine (HHVN) achieves a dramatic 75% reduction in overall 30-day hospital readmissions for chronic disease patients. Of the 474 patients placed on the HRS Patient Connect® Platform from April 2015 to April 2016, there was a 4.2% 30-day readmission rate. The state average in Maine is 16.6%. HHVN launched the new generation of technology from Health Recovery Solutions (HRS) in 2015 to support the care of their most fragile and at-risk patients.Health Recovery Solutions, whose CEO was recently recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30, focuses on engaging high risk patients with its software. At HHVN, the average patient spends 24.6 minutes a day watching educational videos, answering teach-back questions, reviewing their own biometric data, participating in video calls, and accessing their personalized care plan. Donna DeBlois, HHVN President, explains “what we are doing is true population health, by addressing health literacy and engaging our patients in self-care, we have gone far beyond the realm of telehealth.”
In the past 6 months, the readmission rate at HHVN for Congestive Heart Failure patients was 2% and 1% for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases and 3.3% for patients with Diabetes. Heather Lomax, Clinical Manager for Telehealth & Cardio-Pulmonary Services, stresses the importance of quickly getting clinical trends and data to providers, adjusting medications accordingly, and visual inspection through videoconferencing with patients to prevent hospital readmissions. She states that “with doing virtual visits for assessment purposes, it helps address the challenge of reporting back to cardiologist with their symptoms. Instead of saying the patient is short of breath or has swelling, he/she can be visually inspected for a more complete picture.”
A combination of the diligent and attentive telehealth nurses and the multiple reminders embedded in the HRS software produces high compliance rates for patients to take their vital signs daily. Over the past year, the average daily adherence for patients taking each of their reminded vital signs through the HRS integrated wireless devices was 85%.
The partnerships' public results come at an opportune time as on May 1st, HHVN will be merging with Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice, and Waldo County Home Care and Hospice to become MaineHealth Care at Home. This new entity will strengthen services and expand technology throughout Maine’s Cumberland, York, Lincoln, Waldo, Knox and southern Oxford counties.
For more information, about HomeHealth Visiting Nurses of Southern Maine www.homehealth.org or call 1-800-660-4867.
For more information, about Health Recovery Solutions (HRS) visit www.healthrecoverysolutions.com or call (347) 699-6HRS.
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Tuesday, April 26, 2016