Through its Total Patient Management program, Well Care Health has implemented new, innovative techniques to reduce hospital readmissions, including the use of portable image machines and in-home pharmacy kits.
The company’s Population Heath and Clinical Integration team has reported several patient success stories since partnering with Dynamic Mobile Imaging and Realo Pharmacy. Both companies offer convenient supplemental services for Well Care’s patients at a lower cost, and allow patients to remain in the comfort of their own home. The emphasis to implement financially-sound, proactive care solutions leads to improved health care outcomes at a lower cost to the patient and health care system alike.
Dynamic Mobile Imaging provides digital x-rays, Dopplers, ultra sounds, EKGs, Holter monitors, and echocardiograms. Realo Pharmacy provides care kits that contain critical medications for patients with COPD, Pneumonia, and Congestive Heart Failure. The physician-ordered proactive kits allow Well Care to intervene at the first sign of worsening symptoms or a change in patients’ conditions.
“Developing strategic partnerships across the care continuum is a top priority for Well Care Health,” said Robin Kipple, RN and Senior Director of Population Health and Clinical Integration. “Our new partnerships with Dynamic Mobile Imaging and Realo Pharmacy help to eliminate trips to the emergency room and allow for in-home treatments. Patients want to age in place; and we want to keep our communities healthy, happy, and at home. That’s our mission,” Kipple said.
In addition to partnering with supplemental health care services, Well Care has also developed an acuity care model based on the severity of a patient’s needs or condition. Through data analysis, visits are then placed strategically throughout the care episode. The goal is to ensure the appropriate care matches the individual patient’s specific needs during high-risk times, allowing for maximized outcomes.
Along with these new care tactics, Well Care’s Population Health and Clinical Integration team is now using Patient Ping. The care coordination platform helps to reduce the cost of health care by connecting providers with their shared patients. The technology allows health care providers to collaborate on shared patients through “pings,” or real-time notifications. Pings involve important patient context at the start of care, giving providers, governments, and payers the real-time data needed to reach their shared goals of improving a patient’s condition, and the health care system at large.
More specifically, Patient Ping allows Well Care Health to see the patient’s care program and visit history. Well Care’s Population Health team can identify a patient’s readmission patterns, and all attributed providers involved, upon admission. This gives Well Care’s clinicians actionable insights to inform care decisions. Leveraging this information also strengthens Well Care Health’s Total Patient Management acuity care model.
“We’ve got to be creative and innovative with our patient care models,” said Kipple. “This will be an ongoing, strategic goal as Well Care continues to grow,” she added.
