AdvaCare adds a Personal Touch
By Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
Updated Fri October 25, 2013
BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. - AdvaCare Home Services is taking a new approach to patient care—one that Tammy Zelenko hopes will get patients more involved.
Under a new patient monitoring program called Personal Touch, offered by a company called HealthCall, AdvaCare will provide personalized and comprehensive follow-up with COPD patients.
“The patient will receive (our typical) hands-on care with our respiratory therapists going into the home and doing evaluations and assessments,” said Zelenko, president and CEO. “Along with the regular follow-up that we do, we are adding four or five more touch points with that patient over 30 days.”
Those touch points, conducted via automated calls, reinforce questions AdvaCare is already asking: Are you taking your medications and how are you feeling? HealthCall's proprietary software system is incorporated into AdvaCare's system, tying everything together, Zelenko says.
“This will allow us to manage a larger population of patients and focus on the ones that aren't doing well,” she said. “It also allows us to customize care plans, and meet their payer needs.”
AdvaCare will create 30-day reports to summarize how patients in the program have fared to demonstrate to patients, referral sources and payers its benefits, Zelenko says.
“We are able to say 97% of our patients who are discharged on oxygen stay at home,” she said. “That's all we need to say to at least get their attention.”
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