New York based healthcare technology firm releases software to reduce 30-day readmission rates

NEW YORK, May 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- BlitzCare, a New York-based telemedicine company is announcing a revolutionary transitional care management solution to help hospitals reduce their readmission penalties. In 2013, 85% of New York state hospitals were penalized millions of dollars for high 30-day readmission by the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Transitional care is comprised of services that provide care to a patient immediately upon being discharged from the hospital. Each patient is carefully monitored by a health care professional, while remaining in the comfort of his or her own home. Transitional care allows patients to feel more secure as they transition back into normal life after serious illness or injury, and it also helps to prevent excessive hospital readmissions which can cost hospitals thousands of dollars in penalty fees.

"Our new approach to transitional care effectively reduces readmissions while increasing the patient's quality of care," said Nicos Hadjiangelis MD, the CEO of BlitzCare. "High risk patients will have around the clock access to a healthcare professional even after they leave the hospital."

BlitzCare's innovative telemedicine transitional care service will reduce preventable readmissions by connecting patients to qualified healthcare professionals 24/7/365. By harnessing the power of telemedicine, BlitzCare's proposal enhances current models of transitional care. Amir Tarighat, BlitzCare's CTO explained, "At BlitzCare we are leveraging the latest in web technologies and data science methods to find new ways to reduce healthcare costs while empowering physicians to give the highest quality of care."

Telemedicine ensures that a patient's care is always overseen by a healthcare professional, even after leaving the hospital. With recent advents in communication technologies, it is no longer necessary for physicians to be in the same physical location as their patients in order to administer effective care. BlitzCare's program will make physicians available to answer any questions that patients may have, monitor their conditions, adjust their medications and/or dosages, and refer patients to outpatient services as necessary without an interruption in care.

In addition to providing more comprehensive patient care, BlitzCare's transitional care management system will help hospitals to avoid hefty readmission penalties. A readmission penalty is triggered any time a patient returns to any ER for the same condition for which he or she had been hospitalized within 30 days prior. These penalties affect 63% of hospitals nationwide, and the cost to hospitals can be as high as 1% of their annual reimbursements. The penalties have now escalated to 3% of annual reimbursements for 2014. Just as patients need better options for transitional care, hospitals need affordable and easy-to-implement risk reduction solutions.

BlitzCare's transitional care management program will provide better direct health care to patient's transitioning out of hospital care, and will help hospitals to reduce the amount of readmissions each year. The pilot program is set to launch in three New York hospitals in 2014.

About BlitzCare
BlitzCare is a telemedicine company that connects patients to physicians by developing intuitive and user-friendly interfaces. They currently operate a beta site that provides urgent care for the most common ailments. More information can be found at:http://tcm.myblitzcare.com.

CONTACT:
Nicos Hadjiangelis
1-212-537-9187
[email protected]

SOURCE BlitzCare