Continuing Care
AlayaCare releases virtual care solution for home care
April 8, 2020
MONTREAL – Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, leading technology provider AlayaCare is helping ensure front line healthcare workers, and the patients they serve, remain healthy while staying connected in their homes.
After an urgent new update this month, AlayaCare is the first home care technology company to allow any in-person visit to be converted to a virtual visit seamlessly. This allows home healthcare organizations in the United States, Canada and Australia to safely continue providing service to adults who rely on home care.
“As COVID-19 consumes our acute-care settings for the foreseeable future, the pressure on health systems to care for people in their homes will be overwhelming,” said Adrian Schauer (pictured), CEO, AlayaCare. “We have always considered virtual care of prime importance, but as we are forced to rethink how home care is delivered, the pace of action in this area is heightened.”
According to a recent poll of 266 home care professionals, only one-quarter of respondents are actively offering virtual care – signalling what will be a major focus for the industry this spring.
“This crisis has forced ten years of progress in telehealth to happen in ten days,” said Laurie Neander, administrative officer, AHC-Partners, and former president, Bassett Healthcare Network. “In the midst of a pandemic, health organizations like ours have quickly realized the important role technology plays in home and community care. From remote patient monitoring to virtual visits, adapting and adopting innovation quickly is crucial.”
AlayaCare’s new video conferencing capability – now available for a free trial period for clients – is part of a rapid and revamped approach to virtual care in response to its customers’ needs. This includes a new COVID-19 electronic screening tool, which enables clinicians and personal care workers to assess any individual patient’s risk for COVID-19, both in order to stay safe in a home environment and to best determine how services can support that person.
In addition, AlayaCare has produced a region-specific telehealth and virtual care guide for home care providers around the world to begin implementing these new innovations in service of their clients.
“Standard care plans for treating COVID-19 patients are emerging, and we now know the vast majority of those infected will stay home,” said Schauer. “In this new reality, determining when hospitalization is required will be essential, particularly for older adults, who are not only at highest risk from the virus but who also rely on home care most.”
Through AlayaCare’s virtual care suite, caregivers can interact with clients anytime and anywhere, managing care plans and maintaining the individual relationships that are foundational to this area of healthcare. A dashboard enables home care staff to monitor clients, helping identify and address needs in real-time and reduce the need for both in-home visits and unnecessary trips to the hospital. The new HIPAA-compliant video conferencing feature is embedded directly into the existing workflows for a seamless experience.
Home care organizations that use AlayaCare can also access a Client and Family Portal – an easy tool whereby home care clients themselves can manage how they would like to receive care, control their own care plans, and prepare for each visit.
Social distancing in the age of COVID-19 means the more people are engaged as a participant in their own care the better – and they can use the Portal to retrieve information about their custom medications, dietary plan and exercise routines, while better understanding vitals and symptoms they may be experiencing so they can accurately explain them to nurses over a video.
Home and community care organizations who want to learn more about delivering virtual care can contact AlayaCare any time, whether or not they are currently a client. For more information, visit https://www.alayacare.com/video-conferencing
About AlayaCare
AlayaCare’s unique platform offers a complete technology solution to manage the entire client life cycle including referrals and intake, scheduling, coordination, client health records, clinical documentation, care worker management, billing and payroll, reporting, remote patient monitoring, and a mobile caregiver app in one integrated, highly robust and secure, cloud-based system. AlayaCare is providing the platform for home and community care organizations to propel towards innovation and home care of the future. AlayaCare was founded in 2014. For more information, visit www.alayacare.com.