SUDBURY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--iGetBetter, Inc., a supplier of mobile digital health solutions for post-acute care transition and long term population health management, announced today the addition of the COPD Care Plan to its library of care plans. The COPD Care Plan is used with the iGetBetter cloud-based platform for the rapid deployment of a care transition solution. It is focused on post-acute care treatment bridging the transition of care from hospital to home that engages the patient in their own care, improving outcomes and helping reduce readmissions.
COPD is one of the key areas of focus for the emerging risk-sharing and cost-saving programs that are part of healthcare reform. CMS is specifically targeting COPD to reduce costly post-acute care complications and readmissions as well as reduce the costs of population health management. The cost of a COPD hospitalization averages about $15,000, and with the new risk-sharing payment models, providers need rapid deployment of care transition solutions that can help them engage and monitor their patients.
“iGetBetter has been working closely with the clinical teams at two separate New England hospitals to create a COPD Care Plan that will engage and monitor patients in their own care. We are also looking for clinical indicators of episodic COPD exacerbations so physicians can intervene before an ED visit or hospitalization is necessary, and, of course, improve population health outcomes,” said David Lebudzinski, M.D., chief medical officer at iGetBetter. “The objective of these two institutions is to reduce readmissions and long term costs associated with COPD.”
The iGetBetter COPD Care Plan can be edited and customized for each patient. The iGetBetter COPD Care Plan has the following basic elements:
- Patients are asked daily questions about their pulmonary clinical status using the COPD Assessment Test from the COPD Foundation (Cumulative scores above a certain threshold alert the clinician to a possible clinically significant decompensation); patients can resubmit their answers if they detect a worsening of their pulmonary status as the day progresses
- Patients are assigned am activity monitor to record heart rate, pulseOx, and daily activity levels; clinicians can customize the alert levels for each of these parameters and each of their patients; multiple data entries can be recorded and viewed remotely by the clinician as a patient's clinical situation changes
- Patients are given daily information about the necessity to stop smoking and the benefits that smoking cessation provides
- Patients are daily reminded of the necessity to call their clinician's office if they feel their pulmonary status is changing for the worse and are given a phone number for direct access to the clinicians
A Library of Care Plan Templates Currently In Use By Providers
iGetBetter
has developed a library of care plan templates, to which the COPD Care
Plan template has been added. Care plans currently being used for
patients by a number of providers include:
- Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
- Total Knee Replacement (TKR)/Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA)
- Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM)
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
- COPD
Additional care plans for other conditions are in development.
Care Plan Editor
The patent-pending iGetBetter Care Plan
Editor is an easy-to-use visual tool that clinicians may use to create
new care plans and edit existing care plans in the library. Provider
institutions may create a standardized discharge care plan for their
patients, which clinicians may then customize for each individual
patient. The care plan instructions for each patient are communicated to
them daily via mobile devices, and the clinician can monitor each
patient’s adherence to their care plan and intervene when necessary.
About iGetBetter
Established in 2013 and headquartered in
Sudbury, MA., iGetBetter, Inc., a digital health company, develops,
markets and services a mobile, Web and cloud-based care transition
solution designed to help healthcare organizations reduce readmissions
and lower costs by engaging patients in their treatments and recovery as
they transition from hospital to home. For more information, please
visit www.igetbetter.com
or contact info@igetbetter.com.
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