Effectively engaging patients and their families in care is a proven method of increasing compliance, outcomes, and satisfaction. The challenge for healthcare providers is engaging patients in ways that create meaningful interactions capable of delivering positive results. When it comes to effectively engaging patients, most often it comes down to communicating with in the right way, at the right time.
Additionally, as value-based care models continue to change, patient engagement will play an increasingly important role. In order to improve the quality and quantity of patient touchpoints both inside and outside of a care facility, providers need to implement proven methods of engagement that drive improvements and consistently meet KPIs. With the majority of resources focused on in-facility patient interactions, providers must find ways of effectively engaging patients post-discharge without adding additional FTEs. They will need solutions and programs that engage patients in the following ways:
Communicate with patients in their preferred language
Use the right modality of engagement
Personalize communication to the patient’s DRG and care program
Achieving success is challenging because the process for this type of engagement is resource-consuming. By using technology such as CipherHealth’s Post-Discharge Follow Up or Preventive Outreach, tailored outreach can be streamlined to help close the loop on patient issues and achieve positive results.
By customizing outreach by language, modality, and DRG, it is easier to send tailored messages to patients that monitor status, encourages compliance, and alerts providers to potential issues. By asking tailored DRG-specific or care program-related questions, providers can gather relevant information and prevent adverse events before they occur.
Providing outreach via the appropriate modality (call, texts or emails) and the right language will increase patient’s likelihood of engagement, driving further results. With a higher-volume of engaged patients and a streamlined approach to follow up, your organization will be able to meet KPIs such as lowered readmission rates or increased preventive screenings.
Visit our website to learn more about how CipherOutreach’s features help drive improvements for your organization cost-effectively and efficiently
As you may know, this week is National Patient Safety Awareness Week, and we are exploring simple, yet effective ways that hospitals keep patients safe. Today, we will be exploring how rounding can have extremely positive impacts on patient safety.
The idea of rounding on patients has been around for decades; however, it was not until recently that healthcare providers started emphasizing rounding as a means of keeping patients safe. Purposeful rounding, hourly rounding, leadership rounding, and environment of care rounding are all proven to have a strong positive correlation with patient safety.Almost every type of rounding plays a large part in patient safety initiatives. Whether it is hourly rounding to ensure patients have their possessions, or environment of care rounds to ensure patient rooms are set up properly, there are countless ways rounding can help avoid preventable adverse events, such as hospital-acquired infections, falls, or readmissions.
Rounding and Patient Safety
After Stanford Health Care implemented its purposeful rounding initiative in 2012, it has seen dramatic improvements in call light usage, patient satisfaction, and falls. For Stanford, purposeful rounding means using a structured hourly rounding process.
We have seen similar results when our partner organizations choose to use CipherRounds for their own rounding initiatives. Incorporating technology into the rounding process, with custom scripts and in-depth reports, adds purpose to rounds. Using digital flags within the CipherRounds app, Sentara Healthcare was able to reduce falls per 1,000 patient stays by 78%. You can click here to read the case study.
Enacting change in any industry requires dedication, and on occasion, culture changes. This is especially true when addressing patient safety issues. What we have seen is that when hospital leaders emphasize the need and hold staff accountable for patient safety, hourly rounds start having a purpose – to ensure patients are safe. While building a strong culture is no easy task, it is a crucial step in gaining staff buy-in and proactively resolving issues.
To achieve results similar to Stanford or Sentara, simply enhancing the rounding process is not enough. Organizations must be prepared to analyze and act upon the data that they collect during rounds in order to make lasting changes. Leadership must recognize the value of the rounding initiative, gather the data to validate it, and convey the value to front-line staff.
For more information on rounding and how it can improve patient safety, be sure to visitwww.cipherhealth.com/orchid and contact us for additional case studies and overviews. Visit National Patient Safety Organization to learn how you can join the campaign and keep patients safe.
Congratulations to St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center and Upstate University Hospital for their outstanding achievements in delivering high-quality patient care! St. Joseph’s and Upstate were among eight regional hospitals recently awarded quality improvement payments by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.
With patient-centered initiatives and innovative solutions, these hospitals continue to demonstrate a commitment to clinical excellence and optimal health outcomes. Excellus has recognized these organizations specifically for their improvements in clinical processes of care, patient safety (reducing hospital-acquired infections, falls, and readmissions), and patient satisfaction scores. We are thrilled to partner with these organizations to help in their missions of providing the highest quality care.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently proposed a revision of the discharge planning requirements that healthcare organizations must meet to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. This requirement would affect not only acute care hospitals, but also long-term care hospitals (LTCHs), inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), critical access hospitals (CAHs), and home health agencies (HHAs).
The proposed changes would implement the discharge planning requirements of the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act of 2014, which aims to improve consumer transparency and beneficiary experience during the discharge planning process across post-acute care (PAC) settings.
The New Requirements:
As called for in the IMPACT Act, affected organizations must:
Provide discharge instructions to patients who are discharged to their home
Have a medication reconciliation process to enhance medication management and improve patient safety
For patients who are transferred to another facility, send specific medical information to the receiving facility
Establish a post-discharge follow-up process
Under the new requirements, the care team must develop a discharge plan within 24 hours of admission or registration, and complete a discharge plan before the patient is sent home or to another facility. This applies to all inpatients and certain outpatients, including those receiving observation services, undergoing surgery or other same-day procedures, and emergency department patients who have been identified as needing a discharge plan.
Putting Patients at the Center of their Care
Under the IMPACT Act, hospitals, CAHs, and certain PAC providers will be required to collect and report data on both quality and resource use measures. Increased data collection will help improve care delivery in a number of ways, including the discharge planning process. With access to standardized and robust data, patients and caregivers will be able to more easily compare PAC providers on quality and outcomes. Patients can then select the provider that best meets their needs and preferences, making them active contributors to the discharge planning process.
In addition to assisting patients in making well-informed placement decisions, the new policy would give patients greater opportunities to voice their preferences. Before being placed in the next setting of care, patients will be asked what is most important to them regarding treatment and recovery. Their preferences will be a key factor in placement decisions. Policies like this put real meaning behind the words, “consumer-centered healthcare.”
By requiring providers to develop comprehensive discharge plans and by putting patients at the center of care delivery, CMS’ proposed rule aims to achieve better care, smarter spending, and healthier people.
To see how CipherHealth’s patient engagement and care coordination solutions can help you comply with the new discharge planning requirements, contact us today or download our IMPACT Act overview.
Over the last thirty years, patient-centered care has gone from being merely an idealistic concept to a fundamental and expected approach to care delivery. Today, Planetree, a non profit organization, leads the charge in the advancement of such care practices. In this series, we discuss and disprove the myths that Planetree has identified as challenges to achieving patient-centered care.
Before debunking these myths, it is important to explain what we mean by “patient-centered care.” As defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), it is “providing care that is respectful and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.” In short? It means taking the patient into consideration when making clinical decisions.
Today, we address the following myth: Providing patient-centered care is the job of nurses
That’s Why We Have Nurses, Right?
While it is not inaccurate to say that patient care is a primary responsibility of nurses, it is inaccurate to say that patient care is exclusively the job of nurses. This misconception often stems the belief that hospital leaders should be spending their time “behind the scenes,” handling functions such as the organization’s finance, strategy, and equipment. Once you enter the C-Suite, directly interacting with patients is no longer part of the job description, and it is up to the nurses on the frontlines to make sure patients are safe, healthy, and happy.
Responsibility Does Not Fall on the Shoulders of One…
…It falls on the shoulders of many. Patient-centered care is a universal responsibility within the hospital, and should be a key focus of everyone from administrative personnel to medical staff. Team members in every department, at every tier of the organization, in both clinical and non-clinical roles, contribute to the overall patient experience. Whether it is dietary aide delivering a patient’s meal or an infection control coordinator ensuring proper hand hygiene, every staff member works to promote excellent patient care.
Patient-Centered Care Comes from Empowered Staff
Building a patient-centered culture is only possible when all caregivers recognize their contributions, and feel empowered to go above and beyond their basic job descriptions. This sense of empowerment stems from hospital leaders. When leaders equip their team with effective resources, recognize their achievements, and support their development, staff can work to their highest potential and optimize care. In this way, team members at all levels of the organization contribute to the delivery of patient-centered care.
For more information on patient-centered care please visit Planetree, and to see how patient-centered care initiatives have benefited other organizations, contact us today.
The CARE (Care, Advise, Record, Enable) Act is designed to support family caregivers as they help their loved ones during and after hospitalizations. To encourage hospitals to become more patient- and family-focused in their care practices, hospitals are required to provide caregivers with the necessary information to properly assist their loved ones at home. To date, the law has been passed or enacted by 18 states.
Five-year-old Gideon has been in treatment for Leukemia since November, but that hasn’t stopped him from planning a “hospital marriage” with his favorite nurse, “Tall Sarah.” Gideon drops down to one knee, shows off his handmade ring, and pops the big question! Take a look at the proposal.
Over the last thirty years, patient-centered care has gone from being merely an idealistic concept to a fundamental and expected approach to care delivery. Today, Planetree, a non profit organization, leads the charge in the advancement of such care practices. In this series, we discuss and disprove the myths that Planetree has identified as challenges to achieving patient-centered care.
Before debunking these myths, it is important to explain what we mean by “patient-centered care.” As defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), it is “providing care that is respectful and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.” In short? It means taking the patient into consideration when making clinical decisions.
Today, we address the following myth: Patient-centered care is “nice,” but it’s not important.
The Doctor Always Knows Best, Right?
Those who align with this outdated perception might argue that since the patient’s preferences do not have much clinical bearing, providers should not use them to guide clinical decisions. As an expert in medicine, the clinician should have full control over the patient’s care.
Not Necessarily.
While care providers certainly have the knowledge and experience to make informed clinical decisions, the patient must always have a say. Listening to and acting upon the patient’s wishes helps to establish trust, ultimately leading to a more positive patient outcome.
Patients have the greatest insight into their own lifestyles and goals. Their preferences influence medication adherence, diagnosis and treatment comprehension, and their overall safety. The degree to which patients’ voices are heard can influence how fast they recover, whether or not they will be readmitted, and their overall health outcomes.
But Will It Really Help My Organization?
When patients are brought into the care process, they are more satisfied with the care they receive. With CMS regulations tying HCAHPS scores, a measure of patient satisfaction, to value-based purchasing bonuses, hospitals now profit from happier patients. However, the positive impact of patient-centered care initiatives on the patient experience lasts far longer than a VBP bonus cycle. When patients believe that their needs were properly met by care providers, they are likely to return for future visits and refer others to do the same.
In all, while patient-centered care might have once been viewed as simply a “nice gesture”, it is of paramount importance for the overall health of the patient and the financial wellbeing of the organization.
For more information on patient-centered care please visit Planetree, and to see how patient-centered care initiatives have benefited other organizations, contact us today.
On my recent trip home for the holidays, I was answering the typical questions regarding life, relationships, jobs, etc. While my siblings and cousins were not thrilled to answer these questions, I was more than happy to talk about my job and what I do. I started to explain some of our products, and when I began to tell my mom about our rounding tool, Orchid, she stopped me.
She stopped me when I said, “Rounding is when nurses come in to check on you regularly and hopefully a nurse leader will also come in at least once during your stay to see how things are going.” My mom asked if this was a best practice and I said “Yes, why?”
My mom explained that during her recent trip to a prestigious hospital in one of the nation’s most renowned medical centers, she was never asked any questions during her stay, never met a nurse leader, and only saw nurses when they came to check her vitals and hurriedly entered the information into the computer. She said that when she pressed the call light due to nausea, and even called the floor to ask for a nurse, no one came.
This story hit home because my mother could have been one of the many patients who falls or receives a urinary tract infection caused by a catheter all due to a floor nurse not rounding and asking four simple questions. While I sympathize with nurses who have incredibly taxing workloads and care for countless patients, I can’t help but wonder whether or not hospital leaders knew or cared that my mom was never asked one of the four P’s.
This interaction that occurred during the typical holiday rounds of questions, reminded me why I wake up wanting to come to work everyday. It reinforced the idea that our products not only help shorten patient stays, improve experiences, and keep patients safe, but that they also shed light on some of the issues that hospitals may not even know they have. While I cannot be the one who cares for patients directly, I can help empower those who do with the tools necessary to evoke positive change.
Health care is evolving more rapidly than nearly any other industry. Growing technology and shifting federal regulations influence how patients engage with care, what patients expect of caregivers, and how patients perceive their experiences. Rather than impulsively invest in new technologies, successful organizations design programs centered on an understanding of patient needs, and informed by the relationships they have developed with each patient.
Succesfully Integrating Technology
CHI Franciscan Health (CHI-FH), an eight-hospital system based in Tacoma Washington, exemplifies this notion of “relationships first, technology second.” Leading the charge in health care innovation, the system developed a multidisciplinary team for virtual health services nearly ten years ago. The Virtual Health Team implements programs to increase patients’ access to care, minimize the need to travel for services, and mitigate workforce shortages. Despite the team’s passion for health care innovation, they emphasize that these programs should supplement and enhance, not replace, in-person visits.
One prominent accomplishment of the CHI-FH Virtual Health Team was becoming one of the first hospital systems to provide virtual urgent care to the public, allowing patients to access care 24/7 via phone or video chat. Since then, the department has added numerous programs and collaborated with other health care technology companies to enhance acute care, patient monitoring, patient engagement, and telehealth services. In 2012, the system partnered with CipherHealth to implement a post-discharge follow-up solution, Voice. After standardizing post-discharge outreach, CHI-FH added Orchid for digital rounding during inpatient stays.
Interviewwith Virutal Health Services’ Lana Adzhigirey
Lana Adzhigirey, Program Manager of Care Transformation at CHI-FH, spoke to CipherHealth about the driving forces behind virtual health at CHI-FH, their achievements so far, and goals moving forward.
CH: Can you briefly describe the mission and work of the Virtual Health Team?
Lana: We are a multidisciplinary team of physicians, analysts, IT staff, and nurses all coming together to create a solution. We are really dedicated to challenging the status quo of health care, but we focus on relationships first, whether that’s with people in the health care system, outside of the system, or patients. We have found that technology helps, but it doesn’t achieve the same results if you don’t have the relationships to support it.
CH: What prompted the decision to create the Virtual Health Team, and what challenges were you hoping to address with this initiative?
Lana: We had some visionary leaders in the system that embraced health care innovation early on. I think partially why virtual health is so important and pivotal is because we’re uncertain about the future of health care. It is important that we are prepared and have permission to be creative. With this program, we have permission to dream and to be creative. We need to be nimble for the future of health care, whatever that future will bring.
CH:What are some of the successes have you seen since implementing virtual health services?
Lana: With virtual health, we’ve been able to diversify the way we provide health care to meet the needs of the patients where they are instead of where we are. One of the blatant successes that we’ve seen is with the diabetes management program. By having someone monitor patients’ blood glucose values in real time and call them if needed, we really helped the patients. A lot of patients lost weight and really turned their lives around. When we talk to them, it’s not about the technology or the applications, it’s about the relationship they’ve formed with the educator.
CH: What specific goals did the organization have when partnering with CipherHealth to enhance the offerings of the virtual services?
Lana: Our ultimate goal with the CipherHealth products was to address patients’ needs immediately. We embrace the golden standard around patient rounds and follow-up phone calls. Until we had Voice and Orchid, these processes were cumbersome and involved a lot of paper trails. With Voice, we were able to scale the program quickly, so instead of a few units using the follow-up calls, the entire system was using this best-practice. With Orchid, the goal was to improve patients’ experiences when they were in the hospital. Instead of catching issues on the backside, we’re proactively resolving issues and improving patient stays.
CH: What impact has Orchid had on the rounding process at CHI-FH?
Lana: I was most impressed with the customization piece of Orchid. When we piloted, one of our units decided to focus specifically on the pain management question. After a period of time, we saw that when we pulled up reports for that unit, patient responses were significantly more positive for pain management than they were before the pilot. With Orchid, we’ve been able to standardize our rounding process, which is important as health care systems grow.
Key Takeaway
As illustrated by the success of CHI-FH, technology is not the silver bullet to replace collaboration and strategic decision-making. “A tool is a tool, but the program that you develop around that tool is what drives results,” Adzhigirey explains. “It takes a lot of work, analyzing the data, creating specific goals, and then working toward those goals.” At CHI-FH, this passion for innovation, willingness to adapt, and commitment to meaningful relationships, has allowed the system to provide high-quality care to patients whenever and wherever it is needed.
