Future of Health Care Lies in Collaboration with Home Caregivers, Industry Executive Tells Post-Acute Care Conference Today
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (PRWEB) October 24, 2017 -- Making post-acute care more efficient and affordable takes more than regular health visits from visiting nurses and other medical professionals. It requires the input that only non-clinical aides such as home caregivers, who enjoy extensive face time with patients day in and day out, have access to.
That was the key message Griswold Home Care CEO Matt Murphy delivered during a presentation today at the Inaugural Post-Acute Care Integration Summit in Alexandria, Virginia. The dedicated one-to-one care that home caregivers provide, along with checklists and ever more extensive digital reporting, will become increasingly important in detecting problems, preventing gaps in daily care, and providing insights into risk factors and social determinants that can make the difference between remaining in the home and hospitalization—or readmission.
“Home caregivers ‘own the home’ and can provide clinicians with valuable information that might otherwise be missed,” said Murphy “There’s been a wall between the world of medical post-acute care and non-medical care in the home, but that wall is coming down, with 50 billion hours of non-medical care delivered in the home by lay caregivers projected for this year alone.”
The burgeoning relationship between post-acute care workers and non-clinical home care providers has inspired Griswold Home Care to enter into a partnership with technology provider HandOff to equip its caregivers with mobile care plan checklists tailored to each patient's care needs. The platform makes caregiving by family members and private-duty caregivers less variable, more visible, and data driven; prevents gaps in daily care; detects problems before they result in hospitalizations; reveals new insights about patients’ care in their homes; and provides care histories and vitals to the patient's clinical team as needed.
“For decades, lay caregivers in the home have been largely invisible to clinicians,” noted HandOff CEO Rich Carpenter, who presented alongside Murphy at the conference. “The question is how can we support them, how can they work together, how best to transition patients from hospitalization or post-acute care settings to home all to ensure the best outcome for the patient with the least strain on resources.”
Murphy and Carpenter noted during the presentation that $41 billion is spent each year on avoidable hospitalization. With 44 million lay caregivers working 21-44 hours per week in the home, there is tremendous opportunity to harness that engagement for better medical care and reduced readmissions.
“Home care aides have a lot more to give,” Murphy said. “They can provide meaningful interventions that are non-medical and can do it without going beyond their non-medical licensure. HandOff makes this workable.”
About HandOff
HandOff is committed to transforming the role of the lay caregiver in the home by bridging the gap between formal and informal care to improve patient and caregiver quality of life and reduce healthcare costs. HandOff is built on a deep appreciation for the caregiver journey and the opportunity for these committed individuals to become ‘non-medical clinical partners’TM. Where most see the 50 billion hours of lay caregiving provided by Americans every year as a tragic private burden, we see an opportunity to recognize and support these individuals in their human desire to care for another. For more information, go to http://www.CareHandOff.com.
About Griswold Home Care
With more than 200 locations in 32 states, Griswold Home Care is one of the country’s top home care agencies, providing compassionate care 24/7 to its clients. Its purpose is to give people the help they need to live in the place they love. Through this purpose, Griswold Home Care helps adults maintain quality of life through services including companion care, home services, personal care, and respite care. Founded by the late Jean Griswold, the company is celebrating 35 years and has maintained its founder’s profound sense of empathy for older and disabled adults and those living with chronic conditions. For more information, visit http://www.griswoldhomecare.com or call 215-402-0200.
Gary Frisch, SPRYTE Communications, http://www.sprytecom.com, 215-545-4715 Ext: 25, [email protected]
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