Forbes weighs in on Hospital Readmissions…

I wanted to share the article in Forbes on the healthcare crisis and the problem with Hospital Readmissions.

Regardless of what happens, our healthcare system needs to change. The statistics Forbes shared are overwhelming. Healthcare consumes 17% of our GDP and as a society, we have been known for paying for pounds and pounds of cure. We need to shift our mentality to start paying for those ounces of prevention. The in-home care service is critical to help support patients as they transition from hospital to home. But, that is only one piece of the puzzle. The hands on care is necessary and can help to relieve loneliness, isolation, provide transportation support and act as a helpful resource. But there are more things at play. Many cannot afford round the clock care and may not want someone living with them all hours of the day. That’s why a combination of digital health technology tools, in-home caregiving services and medical provider support is necessary for successful transitions. We just wrote a whitepaper called “Healing in Place”, which explores the successful transition piecing together the home health providers, technology, hospital staff, family and patient to seamlessly provide care and make sure they remain happy, healthy and safe at home. GrandCare is passionate about helping to provide the digital health technology (activity of daily living remote monitoring, digital health/vitals monitoring, medication reminders/alerts, socialization/webchats, touch-based resources & instructions).

FORBES:  A Low-Tech Business That Can Prevent Hospital Readmissions

by Zina Moukheiber, Contributor

I cover health IT and Middle Eastern billionaires.

One of the provisions in the Affordable Care Act that is likely to remain untouched by the Supreme Court is linking Medicare payments to hospitals to a patient’s outcome. According to a 2009 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Medicare’s fee-for-service program, nearly 20% of Medicare patients discharged from a hospital were readmitted within thirty days, and 34% were rehospitalized within 90 days. Hospitals are now scrambling to comply with the new rules that go into effect this year, and that includes making sure older patients are looked after following discharge.
 Lily Sarafan sees an opportunity—and it’s at the opposite spectrum of the smart home as envisioned by Intel’s Eric Dishman. “We’re positioning for post-hospitalization,” says Sarafan. The 30-year-old is the president of Palo Alto, Ca.-based Home Care Assistance, which is in the very low-tech business of providing expert caregivers by the hour or as live-ins. Their non-medical tasks include assisting with walking, making sure patients take medications on time, driving them to doctor appointments, and cooking healthy meals. (Home Care Assistance posts on its site a testimonial from famed MIT linguist Noam Chomsky who praised it in helping his late wife).

The help is not cheap. Home Care charges between $20 and $30 an hour, and up to $300 a day for live-ins. The company generated $50 million in revenues last year, and Sarafan says it is profitable. Anthos Capital, a private equity firm founded by former Goldman Sachs partners invested an undisclosed amount…

To read the entire article go Here