Long-Term Post-Acute Care Providers Lead the Way in Connected Patient Care
Long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) providers face challenges when coordinating patient care, especially when transitioning patients from a hospital. The patient and their family members are often struggling to understand a new diagnosis and could be confused by new medical terminology and medications. And patients are at their most vulnerable, physically and mentally, during this time. It’s vital for providers to have accurate information on discharged or transferred patients to avoid:
- Medication errors
- Adverse events
- Duplicate medical tests
- Unnecessary readmissions.
Contexture addresses these issues with LTPAC providers who are using the health information exchange to gather information on patients before admitting them or taking over their care. LTPAC providers, including Professional Home Health Care (a home health agency), Frasier Meadows (a retirement community), and Tru Community Care (a hospice) shared valuable insights into how their workflows and patient care have evolved through the use of a health information exchange (HIE).
Before and After HIE
The providers and administrators explained how their workflow was before they implemented Contexture’s HIE. For example, Alexis Bellinger, RN at Professional Home Health, says: “Before [Contexture’s] HIE, we spent 1-2 hours on a readmission and 2-4 hours on a new admission. It takes time to gather medication lists, reconcile them, and contact multiple doctors.” They shared how the HIE has improved transitions of care and saved the organizations time. Georgia Berger, Health Information Administrator at Frasier Meadows, comments: “[By accessing the HIE] everything happens faster, everything’s smoother, meds get ordered more quickly. The pain gets relieved faster.”
