News
December 13, 2021Columbia County Pilot Program Aims to Improve Senior Healthcare & Quality of Life
EverHome Columbia, Inc., has announced a pilot program in conjunction with the Home for the Aged, to be conducted in Columbia County, New York. The purpose of the Pilot is to create a consumer-driven care coordination model, allowing seniors with chronic conditions to live safely and comfortably in their own homes, while getting the care they need. The Pilot will integrate comprehensive case management with innovative in-home technology to achieve health care’s “Triple Aim”: 1) improve health delivery 2) improve the quality of life for Columbia County residents, and 3) reduce overall cost.
The Pilot comes at a time when there is a growing population of senior and disabled individuals who require help with daily living, but face a lack of available services to provide the needed care. As people live longer and with more than one chronic condition, the tasks of finding, managing and paying for care have become increasingly complex. Most seniors want to live independently in the comfort of their own home, but as their needs increase their adult children struggle to cope due to family and work obligations, long distances, and a lack of reliable resources.
The Pilot program objectives are to:
- Improve access to care
- Improve communication with family members, health care providers and the care coordinator through innovative technology, including a proprietary app developed by VivaLynx
- Provide early intervention and reduce the cost of care
- Reduce readmissions, unnecessary ER visits and inappropriate nursing home placement
- Improve interdisciplinary service delivery
The COVID crisis magnified the problem of caring for loved ones as families wrestle with caregiver shortages, senior isolation, and urgent healthcare needs. The pandemic has forced both governmental and private-sector marketplaces to look towards technology to assist with the crisis and our new norm.
The Pilot program will run for 24 months, serving the homes of 400 seniors in Columbia County. The program is designed to cover all seniors regardless of payment source, including private payers, patients supported by Columbia County and NYS Office of the Aging (NYSOFA), and Medicaid patients. Subsidies for those who cannot afford the care will be provided by the Home for the Aged.
“The Home for the Aged (HFA) is very pleased to participate in the project that could help to make it easier for seniors in Columbia County to maintain a normal home life, to the greatest extent possible.” remarked HFA’s President, Carl Whitbeck. He added “for over 100 years the Home for the Aged has provided affordable, quality residential care to our seniors, but we have now pivoted to help create ‘virtual homes for the aged.’”
EverHome Columbia uses innovative technology, driven by a proprietary app developed by VivaLynx, to transform each residence into a “virtual care home” to identify potential care crisis and will help to avert further deterioration of health, improving health care, communication and outcomes. Care coordination services delivered by our professional care coordinators enable the team to assess each individual’s needs, resources, and home environment, crafting a unique individual plan of care that integrates best-in-class technology with the necessary personal care.
Implementation of each care plan will be supervised and monitored by the care coordinators, including instruction of the home care technology. Care plans will be monitored through stateof- the-art technology, utilizing artificial intelligence to report, respond to and even identify changes in the condition of a consumer. The app developed for the Pilot will also gather valuable data and facilitate communication among participants and their caregivers. Local providers and agencies will continue to supply the long-term services and support maximizing the value of available resources.