Nursing homes are at the forefront of new care models and technology solutions that have the potential to save billions of dollars in health care costs.
This is the consensus of experts who issued a warning at a recent conference session hosted by the AMDA (Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine Association).
New care models, technology, and methods of documentation and communication could be especially helpful in aggressively treating deteriorating residents, they said. However, long-term care providers still need strategies and focused “champions” to overcome barriers to implementing these valuable tools.
Joseph Uslander, MD, professor of geriatric medicine at Florida Atlantic University, opened his presentation with a case study of a nursing home patient who incurred more than $40,000 in additional medical costs due to an avoidable readmission for pneumonia.
“Imagine how many times this would happen across the United States,” he said. “What we're talking about here is billions of dollars being spent on unnecessary hospital transport.”
Uslander then outlined several care models that are being tested to reduce such cases, specifically INTERACT, which was successfully tested at the University of Missouri to reduce hospitalizations by 30%. We pointed out models that are available for free, such as the program.
Such programs prioritize early identification of symptoms in residents and treatment when possible. We also focus on improving communication within and between nursing homes, efficient record management, and integration with medical technology platforms.
A lack of careful assessment and clear communication is a major cause of preventable hospital readmissions, Auslander explained.
According to speaker Heidi Wold, Chief Population Health Officer at Longevity Health Plan, this is one area where the use of telemedicine tools, remote monitoring technology, artificial intelligence, and even robots can help.
“Probably one of the most exciting and promising areas for me is what technology is going to do in the future,” she said. “Perhaps it's the last frontier in making nursing homes necessary.”
Implementation barriers
However, new care models and technologies face many barriers to adoption. Beyond the financial costs, new technologies often require extensive training, and even when implemented, workers can become overwhelmed with “vigilance fatigue” without proper quality controls. Mr. Wald explained that there is.
Speakers also described the complex challenges facing long-term care providers, including high leadership turnover, talent shortages, and technological barriers such as poor internet access. Additionally, the competing demands of high-level care workloads and time-consuming paperwork can make employees reluctant to learn new and complex processes.
Nursing homes need to intentionally identify top priorities, implement appropriate tools and training, and designate multiple “champions” to oversee the process of integrating new tools, speakers agreed.
“We need a champion,” Uslander explained. “There can't be just one champion. Champions leave, they get sick. And if it depends on one person, the program dies.”
