Last year, the U.S. enacted health care reform by passing two new bills related to patient protection and affordable care. According to Gary Kolbeck, general manager, LodgeNet Healthcare, these new regulations will significantly impact reimbursement rates over the next four years and will considerably transform the way organizations treat and interact with patients.
In an effort to facilitate hospitals to enlist patients as partners and make them more informed, engaged and active in managing their health throughout the entire continuum of care, LodgeNet Healthcare, a provider of patient engagement solutions has augmented its interactive patient engagement solution, eSUITE, which encourages patients to become educated, active members of their care teams.
According to LodgeNet, eSUITE is an easy to use, affordable and comprehensive shared decision-making tool designed that not only educates individuals about their health but also helps hospitals save thousands of dollars at stake by providing a cost-effective foundation to help hospitals comply with health reform mandates for patient-centered, collaborative care such as meaningful use, unnecessary readmissions, accountable care organizations (ACOs) and more.
With latest enhancements, the eSUITE patient engagement solution now facilitates hospitals to interact with patients throughout the entire continuum of care by utilizing evidence-based engagement principles that are proven to improve clinical outcomes, said officials with LodgeNet in a press release.
Apart from being a scalable patient engagement solution, the eSUITE solution facilitates for two-way communications with patients. It is also compatible with a variety of communication devices, thereby facilitating providers to reach large volume of audiences.
According to LodgeNet Healthcare, eSUITE interacts with patients at three key stages, namely eXPRESS, eNGAGE and eXTEND, during the care process. The eXPRESS is a pre-admission solution that prepares patients for their upcoming hospital stay or procedure using his or her preferred communication channel.
The eNGAGE in-patient solution facilitates hospitals to "prescribe" education videos for viewing on patients' televisions based on their specific diagnoses, age, preferred language and other criteria. With eNGAGE, patients can access information about their care team, daily schedule, medications, procedures and key factors required to manage their condition after the discharge.
The eXTEND is a post-discharge solution, which helps patients to be engaged via ongoing medication and follow-up test and appointment reminders, encouragement, support group details and other useful information. With the help of eSUITE’s eXTEND solution, patients can also choose their preferred bidirectional communication channel, such as smart phones, cell phones, PCs and Web-enabled TVs.
In addition, eSUITE tool also reports when individuals view content, measure patient comprehension and alert staff when additional intervention is necessary. All this information can be dynamically documented in the electronic medical record (EMR).
Kolbeck added, "A major benefit of eSUITE is that it provides hospitals with a long-term, integrated strategy to meet the patient engagement requirement found in the four reform programs that will directly impact Medicare reimbursements.”
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Jayashree Adkoli is a contributing editor for HealthTechZone. To read more of Jayashree's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
John Lahtinen
