Home Care Tech Report: Medalogix Releases Home Health Technology EOE Planning Tool

Rowan Consulting Associates Home Care Technology Report has posted a feature onour new end-of-episode planning tool.

See the article below, orclick here.

Medalogix Releases End-of-Episode (EOE) Planning Tool

Nashville, Tennessee, November 23, 2015 —Medalogix, a Nashville-based healthcare technology company, has announced the release of its new analytics-based, end-of-episode (EOE) planning solution for home health agencies. The tool just concluded its beta-testing stage with two clients,Alternate Solutions Health NetworkandGreat Lakes Caring.

[Editor’s note: we told you in August about Great Lakes Caring’s use of the Medalogix tool to identify home health patients who were approaching readiness for hospice(Data Analysis Tool Identifies Home Care Patients Ready for Hospice– 8/12/2015). This same tool now appears to take on a new role with the coming requirement that physicians must be involved with home health discharge decisions.]

The solution was designed to give home health caregivers more objectivity during the Home Health Agency recertification process, wherein the physician decides after a 60-day episode of care (EOC) whether a patient is ready for discharge, or if the patient needs to remain on the agency’s patient census for an additional episode. If caregivers can more objectively identify those patients who are at high risk for their condition worsening, unnecessary rehospitalizations may be more readily avoided.

We spoke with Medalogix CEO Dan Hogan, who told us the newclinical insight tools will use wide-ranging data analysis to determine whether a patient needs another round of care, or whether they are ready for discharge. “Not only will this tool fill a void, ensuring that patients receive the appropriate care at the appropriate time, but it will also give the HHA using it a competitive advantage with referring physicians.”

In traditional instances, the care team makes the decision to readmit or discharge based on instinct, education and experience. While those dimensions of decision-making are invaluable, the analytics portion of Medalogix’s EOE planning solution adds an additional layer of insight that helps ensure the right patients are getting the right level of care at the right time.

Additionally, Medalogix’s EOE planning solution provides watchlists that allow clinicians to monitor patients based on how many days they have remaining in their 60-day episode. In many cases, a care team’s decision to readmit or discharge hinges on pending factorssuch as progress toward established goals, wound healing or improvement in cardiopulmonary status. In an effort to support the communication process during this fluctuating period, Medalogix’s EOE planning solution provides a ‘watchlist’ feature where clinicians can keep watch on this subset of patients and monitor changes while evaluating patient risk. The solution facilitates transparency across a census, supporting appropriate end of episode planning.

“We implemented Medalogix’s EOE planning solution to help our centralized EOE Planning Team streamline communication and coordination,” said Jolita Wilbanks, Vice President of Patient Services of Alternate Solutions Health Network.” The solution allows our caregivers to recognize which patients have the highest potential need for additional care, creating an organized process during EOE planning.”

By successfully identifying which course of care is most appropriate for a patient, home health providers may gain a competitive advantage with EOE planning through reduced emergency department use, decreasedunnecessaryre-hospitalizations, increased quality of care as measured by patient surveys and data-backed assurances that any service increase are appropriate.

“Although in the early stages of beta-testing, the Medalogix EOE planning solution has helped us more quickly identify patients who would most benefit from an additional episode of care,” said Marcy Miller, Vice President of Patient Services of Great Lakes CaringHome Health. “Our goal is to always provide the highest level of care to our patients. This new solution from Medalogix helps us to do that.”

AboutAlternate SolutionsHealth Network
Founded in 1999 by Tessie and David Ganzsarto, Alternate Solutions is focused on building post-acute strategic partnerships with health care systems in Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and West Virginia, with plans to form more.Alternate Solutions has been recognized for excellence, including being ranked by HomeCare Elite™ in the top 1 percent of U.S. HHAs, an award based upon an analysis of performance measures in quality of care, quality improvement and financial performance.

AboutGreat Lakes Caring
Great Lakes Caring Home Health and Hospice is one of the nation’s leading providers of a coordinated continuum of health care, consisting of home health, palliative, and hospice care. Great Lakes Caring has long been known for utilizing state-of-the-art technology to meet the Triple Aim, before its goals were defined: extraordinary patient outcomes, lower unnecessary re-hospitalization rates resulting in higher patient satisfaction at lower cost.

AboutMedalogix
Medalogix is a Nashville-based healthcare technology company that provides analytics and workflows to home health providers so they can improve care and reduce costs. Founded in 2012 by former home health agency owner Dan Hogan, Medalogix has been recognized by Harvard University, HIMSS and Fierce Healthcare IT as an innovative solution that is improving America’s Healthcare system. Medalogix currently offers two solutions:Touch, which automates a home health clinical team’s touchpoints, andBridge, which helps identify and inform patients who would benefit from hospice care.

Originally published atHome Care Technology Report.