Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE IMPLEMENTATION IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Digital Health
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Unwell in America
  • Opinion
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • Data Center
    • Data Center Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Operations
December 08, 2018 12:00 AM

Looping in home-based caregivers

Rachel Z. Arndt
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Tom Riley CEO Seniorlink

    Managing a patient on a care plan means not just keeping in touch with the patient but also with caregivers at home. That can be tough, since patient portals generally don't allow multiple recipients on the patient side to receive messages. Instead, caregivers and case managers often end up resorting to phone calls—lots of them—to stay on the same page.

    Those phone calls, plus time spent actually caring for patients, can add up quickly. On average, family caregivers spend about 24 hours per week on care, according to a 2015 AARP report.

    “A lot of times, you end up leaving messages over and over again, so you kind of feel that you're stalking someone,” said Monique Fleurant, a nurse case manager with Rhode Island Primary Care Physicians Corp.

    The physicians group, which says it cares for over 150,000 patients, recently sought to ease that communication burden and turned to Seniorlink, with which it partners. The company's Vela software, which complies with HIPAA, serves as a platform for everyone involved in a patient's care to send text messages, images, files, videos and other formats, keeping in touch when the patient is not in a medical facility.

    “Think of it as a virtual care room,” said Seniorlink CEO Tom Riley. Each person involved in a patient's care can have a different set of permissions, allowing them to view some or all of a patient's information, including advanced directives and medication lists. Or, Riley said, think of it like Slack, the workplace messaging program. Like Slack, Vela lets users directly message each other and send group messages.

    A few other platforms, such as Lua, offer similar capabilities. Others are more patient-directed, such as CaringBridge, which lets patients create websites to share updates with family and friends. And My Circle, from Quest Diagnostics, gives family members access to each other's lab results.

    But in general, HIPAA-compliant communication tools for caregivers who aren't necessarily healthcare professionals are rare. Researchers found that just 15 out of 200,000 mobile health apps provided communication tools for family members.

    Vela provides a shared calendar that helps people involved stay on top of appointments. The messaging platform also allows for a more efficient and documented way for a case manager to make sure a patient is taking the right medications by informing the patient's entire care team and family.

    And that includes the patient's home caregivers, who might otherwise be left out of the communication with the patient's medical care team. “No other application that we came across meaningfully integrated the caregiver as part of the care team,” said Noah Benedict, chief operating officer of the Rhode Island physicians group, which is now a partner client of Seniorlink. “It was always a logistical hurdle.”

    By looping in all caregivers, Vela allows them to share information and add value, Benedict added.

    The success of platforms like Vela depends in large part on the care teams themselves. “Technology is never the tail that wags the dog,” Benedict said. “You have to have a solid care model and care team to pull something like this off.”

    And as these models become more prevalent, vendors would be smart to find ways to connect the dots between all members of a care team, said Rebecca Altman, managing director at Berkeley Research Group.

    “Being able to care for patients in a lower-cost setting, which is their home, is far more cost-effective than taking care of them in an ED or hospital,” she said.

    Based on current results, Seniorlink is projected to end the year with $150 million in annual revenue, Riley said. Some of that revenue comes from risk-bearing healthcare organizations that pay to use Vela's secure messaging on a subscription basis.

    The company also offers other care-management services, including what Riley calls a “virtual nursing home bed,” which is now available in seven states, with deployments slated in a few more by year-end.

    For that service, Seniorlink charges a Medicaid program or at-risk managed care organization $80 a day for care coordination and management through Vela, telephone calls and home visits. “We're saving state Medicaid and managed-care organizations 50 cents on the dollar,” Riley said.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    stethoscope - three doctors
    Adventist Health lays off workers, streamlines operations to cut costs
    ER mental health boarding
    Behavioral health funding, capacity draw more worry from hospital CEOs
    Most Popular
    1
    More healthcare organizations at risk of credit default, Moody's says
    2
    Centene fills out senior executive team with new president, COO
    3
    SCAN, CareOregon plan to merge into the HealthRight Group
    4
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan unveils big push that lets physicians take on risk, reap rewards
    5
    Bright Health weighs reverse stock split as delisting looms
    Sponsored Content
    Daily Finance Newsletter: Sign up to receive daily news and data that has a direct impact on the business and financing of healthcare.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Digital Health
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Unwell in America
    • Opinion
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top 25 Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Data Center
      • Data Center Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing