The communication gaps that exist between health care teams in local communities can have detrimental effects on patient care like inefficient care and the duplication of efforts, which, in a critical health crisis, can lead to hospital (re)admissions and overcrowding in hospitals (also known as “hallway medicine”) and COVID-19 brought many of these challenges to light. Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) were created to fill those communication gaps and are mandated to include a digital health solution for patients and providers to access and share health care information. Health Espresso is one digital solution for bridging the communication gap.
Health Espresso is a patient-centered, collaborative Inter-professional Virtual Health Record (IPVHR) that connects allied health professionals, primary physicians, hospitals, caregivers/home care agencies and patients in one secure and private in-cloud platform, enabling health care providers to virtualize their practice and make informed decisions at the point of care. Available as a free mobile app for both iOS and Android, the mobile app connects patients with physicians to communicate real-time data and empower patients to self-manage their own health and has the video capability to enable virtual appointments between patients and primary physicians and/or allied Health Service providers.
The secure in-cloud Inter-Professional Virtual Health Record (IPVHR) provides health care professionals with vitals, medication lists, patient history and lab and hospital reports. It fills the communication gaps left behind by traditional health care by enabling health care teams to view their patient’s pertinent information, record notes from appointments and view imaging results, all in one centralized location. Health Espresso’s remote patient monitoring system is also equipped with secure messaging, patient-physician appointment scheduling and built-in video capability in addition to an image capture and share feature for diabetic foot ulcers and wound-monitoring.
Health Espresso was created by Rick Menassa, founder of the award-winning care agency for seniors and children with disabilities iCARE Home Health. Inspired by the current home care of seniors aging in place and by post-discharge patients who were experiencing preventable critical health events and hospital readmissions, Menassa wanted to close communication gaps with a “circle of care” and inter-professional care teams.
“As the government transitions services from hospitals to home and community care to meet rising healthcare costs and reduce hallway medicine, Health Espresso’s revolutionary secure, connected and collaborative Inter-Professional Virtual Health Record is an industry disruptor and game changer,” says Menassa. “With a ‘one patient, one record, one care plan’ approach, our secure platform, backed by solid virtual care capability, is empowering care professionals to make better, more informed decisions right at the point of care ensuring better health outcomes for their patients.”
Taking seniors into account, Health Espresso was also created with an AI-powered voice communication assistant tool, similar to Siri and Alexa, that generates appointment and medication reminders. Outfitted with a medication adherence tracker, it sets reminders with an AI voice prompt that acknowledges when a dosage has been missed — triggering a missed dosage notification by text or email to a secondary contact to prompt follow-up with the patient.
Health Espresso is currently being utilized by more than 67,000 patients with an anticipation of an additional 30,000 patients by the end of 2021. Twelve hospitals and four Ontario Health Teams (OHTs), in addition to long-term health facilities and insurance companies, are currently considering the Remote Patient Monitoring solution for outlying patients and indigenous communities. Health Espresso is also collaborating with health organizations, like the Seniors Urgency Room, to provide patients with self-registration and automated triage and to connect clinician assessments, provide remote patient monitoring and care continuum through secure messaging and virtual care for allied health professionals.
The creation of OHTs is a first step in closing the gap among health care teams, but it’s digital tools like Health Espresso that will seal the gap completely.
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