Enhancing Resident Experience Through Follow-Up

NEW YORK, Nov. 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A year ago, Cedar Community, a retirement community in Wisconsin, teamed up with CipherHealth, a healthcare technology company, to assist in bettering resident outcomes. And the results have been remarkable.

Through Voice, CipherHealth's automated call, text and email outreach system, Cedar Community and other healthcare providers are able to address patient needs and provide much-needed support post-discharge. The platform maximizes staff time and streamlines manual processes by reaching out to patients asking customized questions about their care and then alerting issues back to staff for follow-up.

Recently, a 60-year-old woman who was discharged from Cedar Community indicated she needed follow-up help with her medications and appointments on her third Voice call. A staff member then immediately reached out to the patient and resolved her issue. The patient had no further problems for the remainder of the program and stated, "I couldn't have done this without all of you, thank you so much for everything that you guys did and are doing for me."

There are many successful testimonials like this one. In its first year, Cedar Community engaged 94 percent unique residents enrolled in the Voice program, with a total of 2,810 calls made, 20 percent of enrollees required at least one intervention and nursing staff quickly followed up with residents within two hours. "We are impressed with Cedar Community's high standards of care and responsiveness to residents through the program. This will no doubt help them succeed under an evolving regulatory environment," said JB Powell, CipherHealth's VP of Post-Acute Care Strategy.

"Since Voice implementation, Cedar Community has proactively found better ways of identifying readmissions after discharge, which the skilled nursing facility had limited access to prior. By streamlining the use of a versatile platform, the follow-up team is better equipped to investigate gaps in care and provide those residents and their caregivers with continued support and education to help prevent further adverse events," said Lorraine Limpahan, Account Strategist at CipherHealth. Cedar Community shines as a committed partner in reducing readmissions, a key performance measure for hospitals across the country.

"Voice provides us with a powerful opportunity we did not have before. We see where there is an opportunity to improve and can address those issues right away," said Melissa Searle, Director of Social Services at Cedar Community. "Gone are the days where the resident is simply discharged and belongs to someone else. We needed to look at how we were going to provide further care even though they are no longer under our roof," added Kelli DeRuyter, Administrator and Director of Clinical Services at Cedar Community.

Cedar Community also uses Voice to identify needs for home care services and can coordinate with home health agencies to schedule necessary visits. By improving coordination with downstream providers, Cedar Community continually demonstrates a dedication to making sure their residents continue to receive the best care possible.

About Cedar Community
Cedar Community's natural settings, faith-based mission and high-quality services afford seniors the opportunity to live a more purposeful, fulfilled life among family and friends. From beautiful homes and apartments for active and independent retirees, to assisted living, short-term care and rehabilitation, skilled nursing and memory loss services, Cedar Community is the only community in Washington County where people age 55 and better have the peace of mind, knowing the services they may need are right there, provided by a team of professionals they know and trust.

About CipherHealth
Since 2009, CipherHealth has been innovating and delivering products to help care providers effectively and efficiently provide quality of care for their patients. By harnessing technology to improve patient outcomes and experiences, CipherHealth and its suite of products focus on the evolution of patient care. CipherHealth is based in New York City and was named "Best Place to Work in Healthcare" by Modern Healthcare(2014).

SOURCE CipherHealth

Related Links

https://cipherhealth.com