This article is sponsored by TapestryHealth. In this Voices interview, Skilled Nursing News sits down with TapestryHealth co-founder, and Chief Growth and Product Officer Mordy Eisenberg to talk about why rural facilities need to out-pace their urban counterparts in technology. He breaks down the key deterrents, challenges, and opportunities around Proactive Care Technology adoption in the post-acute space. He also explains how Tapestry is optimizing the implementation process without a steep learning curve so that remote and rural facilities can get people up and running more efficiently.
Skilled Nursing News: Where are you seeing the greatest adoption of Proactive Care Technologies?
Mordy Eisenberg: We’re seeing a lot of mid-sized and large facilities expanding their Proactive Care Technology offerings because the hospitals and major medical centers are discharging higher acuity patients that need greater attention. When JetBlue began putting individual TV screens at every seat on the plane, they set a new bar for in-flight entertainment, and eventually, every other airline followed suit. We’re seeing the same thing in terms of new technologies in the post-acute space.
As the awareness of Proactive Care Technology and its impact grows, more and more hospitals are actively seeking SNFs who can offer it. But this tends to be more of an urban phenomenon. In rural areas, there are generally fewer hospitals and fewer SNFs, so a hospital may not have the luxury of shopping for a more sophisticated facility. But that doesn’t negate the necessity of maintaining a sharp technical edge no matter where you’re located.
How does pricing, implementation, and care technology assimilation impact the adoption of Proactive Care Technologies in rural areas?
Rural areas are slower to adopt new technologies, yet the need for them is significantly higher than in urban care settings.
From a pricing standpoint, TapestryHealth provides a full suite of Proactive Care Technologies at no cost to facilities, so that should not be a deterrent. Likewise, neither should delivery and implementation. Not only do we provide an unmatched level of technology within the facility walls, but we also use advanced technology to support it. We can “turn on” our Proactive Care Technologies practically overnight in any facility in the country, regardless of its location.
As far as assimilation, education is critical because it’s harder to deliver care without technology than it is to learn the technologies and integrate them seamlessly with an existing clinical framework.
How does TapestryHealth eliminate the barrier of technology implementation, soften the learning curve, and get care teams up to speed in rural and remote areas?
We’ve been in the post-acute care space for a very long time. As such, Tapestry’s leadership has decades of experience, and our team knows exactly what it’s like to work in every facet of a SNF, from administration and clinical leadership to the front line.
We have a comprehensive understanding of the day-to-day challenges each staff member faces, and our service is tailored specifically to those needs. SNF team members don’t have time to learn a new system from the ground up, so we made our system adaptable to what they are already using and we integrate right into their current systems.
Further, every element of our Proactive Care Technologies, from digital vitals and primary care to predictive modeling, goes through our proprietary platform. Think of our platform as the hub of a wheel while our individual services are the spokes. That means your current services can also be spokes. For example, your existing EMR can be channeled through our proprietary platform and linked with every other service. Tools like AI and predictive modeling can scare people off, but we deliver them directly to our customers, even on their phones, ready for immediate use.
Can you give us an example of that?
Sure. One thing we provide is a daily risk report. That’s a term most people can grasp pretty quickly. It’s highly accurate predictive modeling that tells the nursing staff where the risk of hospitalization is greatest, patient by patient. That report is the result of millions of pieces of data being analyzed in real-time, then adapted to each facility and its residents.
This empowers nursing staff to take action. They can divide resources and deliver the level of care needed to prevent that hospitalization. They know what to do with their patients. We just let them know who needs help before they see it coming.
What are some of the other “spokes in the wheel”?
You can orchestrate your entire medical ecosystem through Tapestry’s platform, ultimately filling the gaps in all the tools, data, and resources you don’t have with seamless integration. It’s amazing how quickly you can elevate the level of care in a facility when you start adding these technologies.
We can provide AI and predictive modeling, digital vital signs, and remote, contactless patient monitoring that operates 24/7 to accurately measure heart rate, respiration, and even behavioral changes. We also offer all of the traditional services associated with telemedicine: round-the-clock clinical care by a physician assigned to your facility and your patients, lab tests, prescriptions, behavioral and psych care, chronic care management — the list goes on and on.
Explain how pricing should not be an obstacle for Proactive Care Technology adoption in rural and remote areas.
The service we provide is not only covered by the patient’s Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance, but it is also encouraged by them. Providing this level of care keeps patients out of the hospital and keeps them healthier, which is the sole reason most of us are in this business to begin with. Tapestry manages the billing, so all the facility has to do is focus on providing great care. Most facilities find that the more they use us, the more their reimbursements increase along with their Star Ratings.
In a few words, how long before CMS requires every SNF to provide this level of care?
For the sake of nursing home residents everywhere, we should all hope that it is very soon.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
TapestryHealth’s nationwide primary care practice protects your residents through 24/7 on-site and remote telehealth healthcare using the world’s leading telemedicine technology, bringing the benefits of a complete medical center right to your residents’ bedsides. To learn more, visit www.tapestryhealth.com, or call (203) 721-6822.
The Voices Series is a sponsored content program featuring leading executives discussing trends, topics and more shaping their industry in a question-and-answer format. For more information on Voices, please contact [email protected].