Two central Ohio-based companies committed to revolutionizing healthcare delivery have launched a new partnership, as Health in Motion Network’s (HIMN) ERxDirect pharmacy platform is now being powered by Updox, a platform that manages healthcare communications across both in-person and virtual care.
The two healthcare organizations signed a partnership agreement that integrates Updox’s HIPAA-compliant virtual care solutions, including video and secure text, into the Health in Motion Network’s consumer-direct pharmacy platform, ERxDirect.
The partnership provides the base for consumer-centered pharmacy care within Health In Motion Network’s total health engagement platform, which is already beginning to roll out across the country. The goal is to improve patient outcomes by uniquely connecting local health care, community pharmacies and urgent care centers with the innovation they need to compete in the future and remotely communicate with patients in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Updox has a great set of communication tools that fit perfectly with our overall patient communication strategy, which is key to the ERxDirect platform,” said Steve Weiker, chief technology officer. “Updox’s willingness to act like a true partner and make product enhancements based on our requests is truly appreciated. Their collaboration speaks volumes to the level of trust each party has in the other’s future.”
Updox’s healthcare engagement and communication software connects and builds relationships that help pharmacies and community health providers grow with more satisfied customers. Updox tech includes video, secure texting, online fax, instant messenger, reminders, notifications and more. The company’s HIPAA-compliant virtual care solutions protect patients and healthcare providers by streamlining communication and providing secure channels, supplementing the already robust Health In Motion Network, a connected and collaborative healthcare delivery platform that brings personal health management to the consumer’s fingertips.
“Healthcare has been forever changed by COVID-19. While lockdowns and stay-at-home orders forced many healthcare providers to quickly implement telehealth, the safety and convenience of it makes it a preferred option going forward for providers and patients,” said Michael Morgan, chief executive officer, Updox. “Pharmacies play an essential role in healthcare delivery and we’re excited to offer them opportunities to support their patients with consultations, medication therapy management and chronic disease care in ways that are safe, secure and convenient and help them grow their businesses.”
Powering up the Health In Motion Network platform will allow Updox to greatly expand its coverage. By partnering with the expansive Health In Motion Network, Updox will grow its pharmacy presence exponentially, from 400 pharmacies to more than 2,000 independent EPIC pharmacies in the Health In Motion Network as part of a national expansion. Pharmacy operators like Emlah Tubuo R.Ph., PharmD, who owns Powell Pharmacy in central Ohio, are already seeing what the platform can offer.
“I believe a community pharmacist can make a major change in the lives of patients,” she said. “With the ERxDirect platform, I see a totally different practice model for pharmacists in general. We are highly trained medical professionals who can do so much more than give medication to patients. We can work as an integral part of the treatment team.”
Health In Motion Network is specifically designed to enhance care delivery. The ERxDirect platform will move pharmacy care forward by elevating healthcare’s most accessible healthcare provider across the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic has successfully spread its wrath among nations. It has become so widespread that it could cause a global recession. It has made people realize the importance of the healthcare industry. While those in the healthcare industry are exhausted, they remain one of the most vital professions that will continue to be in-demand in the years to come — even after we’ve won against the pandemic.
Those with a medical background, whether it be from a prestigious university or online training like Lifesaver Education, can expect to have a job that pays well. If you look at job postings today, you will find many looking for registered nurses, laboratory technicians, epidemiologists, internists, and anesthesiologists.
Even the previously overlooked professionals in geriatric care are now getting the attention that they deserve because the deadly coronavirus has the most debilitating effect on the elderly. In this post, we’ll look at the in-demand healthcare careers because of COVID-19.
By Mike Pietig, vice president of healthcare experience, Avtex.
Mike Pietig
Communication is core to delivering exceptional patient experiences every day. In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, and as patients and their providers slowly move forward, communication is as critical as ever.
Now is the time for providers to review how they’ve traditionally communicated with patients and what adjustments can be made to improve communications in the future. The deferring and cancelation of elective services has resulted in millions of lost revenue, putting even tighter constraints on marketing budgets, so a communications review is imperative.
An alarming 81% of consumers are unsatisfied with their healthcare experience, according to recent research by Prophet. When providers enhance communication as part of the patient experience (PX), the outcomes include improved patent retention, new patient acquisition, increased utilization of health system services, and more.
Well-planned and personalized communication ranks highest in importance in the patient experience, by the patients themselves. More effective communication increases patient engagement opportunities, reduces the volume of incoming calls that the organization is receiving (which helps staff focus on the highest priority items and the most critical patients), and lowers the cost to serve patients and maximize resource utilization, which is especially important now, given COVID has put intense strain on providers’ resources and finances.
To survive and thrive in the new norm, it’s time for providers to modernize their communications approach.
Learn the patients’ communication channel of choice.
Historically in healthcare, outreach has been focused on billboards, direct mail and tv/radio ads as the main communication channels in between face-to-face visits. These marketing blasts are nearly impossible to track for return on investment and do nothing for patient retention. Patients live in a digital world and expect digital outreach.
By Matthew A. Michela, president and CEO, Life Image.
In a public health report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the state of the U.S. public health technology was likened to “puttering along the data superhighway in our Model T Ford.”
While the healthcare industry has talked about improving data interoperability with the noble goal of breaking down data silos to better coordinate care and turn data into information, the business of healthcare resisted meaningful change. The status quo that traps data in its silos helped to serve the interests of big, incumbent vendors by locking provider customers into their proprietary tech stacks. In turn, some providers believed they too could protect against patient leakage by holding medical data captive.
Data interoperability is stuck in the past
Even though patients have had, since 1996, a right to access their own information under HIPAA, the healthcare system made it really, really hard to obtain that data. Life Image recently conducted a survey of 1,300 patients and found that 40% of patients had to go to their provider’s office in person to submit requests for medical records. Additionally, 40% received those medical records on a CD, a 1980s technology that is obsolete in the modern consumer world.
In all other industries except healthcare, data requests, collection, storage and exchange are commonplace, and available at your fingertips at any hour and any day of the week. While patient satisfaction and convenience seemed to be worthwhile healthcare goals, they weren’t enough to drive significant, wholesale change and conversion from protectionism, managing resources to optimize the physician rather than the patient, or stubbornly persistent operational practices using CDs.
Nothing happens until something happens
The federal government recognized this inertia and promulgated a lengthy set of interoperability rules in March 2020. Just days later, the force and fury of COVID-19 started hitting the U.S. and created a public health emergency that exposed the significant operational risks and clinical dangers created by the lack of interoperability. Frictionless data sharing was no longer an existential threat. All of a sudden, the hazards became tangible.
The paradox is that COVID-19 has manifested the critical need for exactly what the new federal rules require: advancement of interoperability and digital online access to clinical data and imaging, at scale, for care coordination and infection control. Now more than ever, healthcare needs to be able to digitize, visualize, virtualize, and curate all types of medical data at scale including diagnostic and pathology information without physical exchange. No more CDs, no more faxes, no more film or slides.
Not just data – advanced data
COVID-19 is a respiratory illness with corresponding impacts to the heart, liver, kidney and other organs. People with underlying health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, chronic lung disease and cardiovascular disease appear to be at higher risk for hospitalization and death. Out of the 122,653 U.S. COVID-19 cases reported to CDC, only 5.8% of patients had data available pertaining to underlying health conditions or potential risk factors.
Advanced data such as imaging data are critical to diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and post-care monitoring. The typical structured data found in an electronic health record (EHR) or claims data are easier to access but have limited clinical value. With chronic or complex conditions, advanced data such as medical imaging, pathology and genomics are critical components of the longitudinal patient record that must be easily accessed and shared. However, imaging data has historically been among the most technically challenging to exchange.
While the industry has made some gains in imaging interoperability between large tertiary hospitals and their primary referral sites, patient sharing of digital images online is dismally small.
People experiencing mild drug or alcohol abuse issues can actually safely detox at home. There are a number of available options for individuals who want to get on the path to recovery. It is very important for individuals like these to have self-discipline and willpower, as long as a support system that they can rely on.
Being a nurse is not an easy life, but it can be very rewarding and is a popular career path for many. It takes hard work and dedication to even qualify as a nurse and thats before your role in the real world begins.
Due to an aging and increasing population, demand for nurses has been rising and looks set to continue to do so. With most shifts at medical practices being short-staffed, there is always a need for new nurses.
In addition to this, there are many specific career paths available within the nursing profession. From midwife to paediatrician to military nurse, there is a huge range of opportunities to suit your particular skills and interests.
Shifts Are Long and Demanding
Nursing shifts are usually longer than shifts in industries such as retail and hospitality – with 12 hours or longer being fairly typical. The work is also often physically and emotionally demanding. Many nurses report struggling to maintain a good work-life balance.
However, although shifts are long, nurses are usually able to choose how many hours they work a week (e.g. part time or full time) and when. Schedules are usually flexible, with many nurses only working two to four shifts a week as the shifts are so long. Most medical practices will have their own nurse shift planner system.
Understanding that your aging parents are no longer able to care for themselves is a really difficult step in life. It’s even harder to realize you cannot take care of them on your own.
The first step is to understand that you are not alone. There is an array of professionals that can help you transition together onto this new stage.
While trusting someone to care for people you love may not be easy, there are several ways to ensure you get them the best possible care. Start by clarifying what you need. Is it in-home care? Do you need a health professional? Are you expecting to have someone to take care of their household needs? Make a thorough list and use it to create a job posting. Depending on your parent’s health, you also need to determine how much they can be involved in the decision-making process.
Due Diligence
Safety is always the main concern of family members who are seeking care for their elderly relatives. What if they are abused or neglected? While you always need to pay close attention to how things unfold after hiring a caregiver, due diligence is the best way to ensure safety. Once you have chosen a few good candidates, run a background check. Make sure they have no history of violence (which can be checked through criminal records) or sexual abuse (by checking sex offender registries).
A good place to start is to use an online service.Checkpeople, for example, can help you sort through thousands of websites and offer a comprehensive report. They charge a flat fee for unlimited monthly searches. If your parents require professional healthcare (such as a nurse or nurse aide), make sure they are certified.
The next step in the due diligence process is to call references and cross-check the information you get from them. When calling previous employers, ask for very specific examples of a candidate’s performance, such as: how did they handle emergency situations? Can you describe their attitude towards the job? How was the relationship between them and the person they were caring for?
The last step is the interview. Whenever possible, it is recommended that your parent is part of the interview process. This will help them have an easier transition. During the interview, talk about your specific requirements. Be clear about your expectations, and ask what they need from you. All this information will later need to be written down and signed on a professional agreement or contract.
Healthcare spending in the United States is higher per-capita than in any other OECD country. Reasons for this unfortunate distinction are many and varied—uncoordinated care, specialty Rx, underutilization of palliative care—but there many hidden factors driving costs for providers.
Re-admissions remain a focus and albatross on the system. They can be incredibly expensive for hospitals, especially if the patient is being treated in a value-based relationship with a payer.
The Affordable Care Act placed a much heavier burden on healthcare providers to prevent readmissions within a 30-day window after discharge, and punishment from government payers can be swift and ruthless. In October 2019, Medicare cut payments to more than 2,500 hospitals, to the tune of $563 million over one year. Hospitals are already feeling a budget crunch from the loss of elective surgeries during the COVID-19 pandemic, so administrators are managing smaller margins.
A well structured value-based arrangement is only as effective as its infrastructure and care model behind it. Given that hospitals discharge patients to dozens, if not hundreds, of nursing homes and home health agencies, it can be difficult to maintain adequate communication across the care continuum. There are a number of ways to improve coordination with post-acute community partners, and hospital administrators and heads of population health should consider the following when developing a plan to address re-admissions:
