Aged care organizations that already provide on-site primary care services have seen significant added value for their communities. Based in Fort Myers, Florida Living Cypressfor example, now benefits from better coordination of care and a stronger relationship with residents.
“This provides a different opportunity to interact with residents that you don’t have in a traditional outpatient primary care setting,” Louisa Cannamela, vice president of clinical services at Cypress Living, said Health Technology This year. “You have these little interactions with them throughout their time there. We can help them transition as they age through our continuum of care.
Innovative senior care organizations wants embrace data analytics and provide a valuable service – and potentially attract more residents – should consider whether creating an on-campus primary care program aligns with their strategic goals.
Why organizations want to bring primary care to campus
As aged care organizations bring primary care on site, the benefits become more obvious. Having timely medical care for residents is crucial: if something happens, a provider is there to address these complex medical needs.
This reduces residents’ stress levels by knowing that a provider is nearby if something happens. And it supports preventive care, potentially reducing the rate of hospitalizations.
It is also transforming aged care organizations to become more agile, data-driven and integrated. As programs evolve, these organizations can use the data they have to provide more personalized continuing care.
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How to address key challenges in on-site primary care
Check whether an on-site primary care service is suitable for your aged care organization. Depending on your location, it may be more advantageous or cost-effective to develop a partnership with a local health system to provide primary care services on your campus. See if this is a service residents are looking for and make it an option if they already have a family doctor. Make sure your offers will benefit residents; don’t make decisions in a bubble without the relevant stakeholders being involved.
Infrastructure Matters: The Connectivity and Connectivity of an Organization security are essential areas to strengthen when seeking to implement a primary care program. Consider a hybrid model like Cypress Living, which has a physical doctor’s office and telepresence solutions.
Furthermore, interoperability will be a major and ongoing challenge that aged care organizations will need to improve. If an organization has several electronic health record systems and disparate solutions that cannot connect with each other, primary care service will not be optimized for patient or provider needs.
If providing on-site primary care is new to your aged care organisation, offering a new service should not be just a knee-jerk reaction. It should be a well-developed plan that involves lessons learned from your industry peers.
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Looking to the Future of On-Site Primary Care
As healthcare providers move away from a fee-for-service model and toward value-based care, the shift will impact the rest of the industry, including healthcare organizations for elderly people. More of these organizations are seeking services that support preventative and holistic care, and don’t just treat a single symptom once.
Fall prevention is a common topic in this field, and it needs to have a more holistic approach beyond “We just had a fall.” “Now what?” Has the resident changed their activity level or diet? Have there been recent changes in your life? Falls prevention needs to include more aspects of life of the resident, and not just trying to avoid a discrete event. This is really where data analysis, management and integration will come into play.
Aged care organizations will also look to adopt more remote patient monitoring solutions, non-invasive sensors and voice-activated technologies. And expect increased growth in automation and solutions based on artificial intelligence.
This article is part of Health TechnologyIt is MonITor Blog Series.
