Telehealth News

Mercy Care Launches Telehealth Platform to Help Seniors at Home

The Arizona-based health plan is partnering with DispatchHealth and Philips to give seniors living at home an instant link to healthcare - which can be delivered right to their doorstep.

Source: ThinkStock

By Eric Wicklund

- An Arizona health plan has launched an mHealth program aimed at giving seniors an alternative to the 911 call.

Mercy Care is partnering with Philips and DispatchHealth in the connected care program. Seniors in the program can activate their Philips Lifeline personal alert button to connect with care managers at a Philips Cares call center. If emergency care is needed, the call center connects with DispatchHealth, which sends a mobile health unit with a fully equipped medical team to the senior’s home.

Mercy Care, which serves Medicare and Medicaid members in the state, is launching the pilot program to offer seniors an alternative to hospital-based care and to improve their health and wellness so that they can stay in their homes longer. 

According to officials, almost three-quarters of 911 calls placed by its members last year resulted in an EMS visit, but only 22 percent resulted in a trip to the hospital.

“Together with Philips, we can discover opportunities to right-size care and treat medical conditions in the home without a trip to the hospital, delivering more appropriate utilization of resources and improved patient satisfaction,” Kevin Riddleberger, DispatchHealth’s Chief Strategy Officer, said in a press release

The pilot fits into the model of a Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) program, part of a growing trend around the nation aimed at reducing unnecessary 911 calls and ED transports and improving care management at home for those with complex chronic conditions.

Denver-based DispatchHealth recently forged a partnership with Texas Health Resources to launch a similar program in the Arlington area. In that program, the company sends a mobile health unit – a specially equipped SUV staffed with a physician assistant or nurse practitioner, medical technician and a licensed emergency medicine-trained physician – to the home following a phone call.

“We’re advancing the model for urgent care, moving beyond a strict facility-based approach, by bringing high-acuity care to patients who typically struggle with access to care in their time of need,” Jake Frost, DispatchHealth’s market director for the Dallas area, said in a THR press release announcing the partnership. “They’re sick and either don't want to or are unable to leave home. And we know that some of these patients may not really need to be seen in an ER, which can be costly and lead to long wait times.”

In the Banner Health program, the target population is seniors.

“Working with DispatchHealth, we’re able to leverage this network to provide seniors in Arizona with a medical team who is at-the-ready to deliver the right interventions at the right time, within the comfort of their home,” Rip Martin, General Manager of Philips’ Aging & Caregiving business, said in the press release. “By meeting patients where they are, we not only improve the patient experience, and support confident and safe independent living, but we also decrease burdensome costs for the overall healthcare system.”

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