DALLAS—AccentCare, a provider of post-acute care, and Sound Physicians, a provider of telehealth and physician services, released the results of a case-control study that leveraged telehealth during the Public Health Emergency (PHE). The two organizations collaborated on a solution to utilize technology to enhance home health care access for patients without a local physician during the COVID-19 pandemic.
AccentCare had a Sound Physician virtually certify patients for services and act as a prescribing provider until a long-term community primary care physician could be found for the patient. The study found that home health partnered with virtual physicians can close the gap to meet the needs of vulnerable patients requiring skilled home health services.
"When we developed the AccentCare/Sound program, we knew that we were answering the call during COVID to provide immediate access to home health care for vulnerable patients that were unable to see their physician," said Daniel Kevorkian, co-author of the study and AccentCare vice president of clinical innovation and technology.
Timely initiation of care was better than the national average for patients that would normally have been denied for home health services due to no assigned community physician to sign orders.
"This is altruism at its best by developing a patient-focused solution while exceeding regulatory outcomes," said Irene Cole, co-author of the study and AccentCare director of strategic clinical outcomes.
The program demonstrated many strengths, but three benefits impacted operations and quality outcomes. Among the benefits was collaborative and efficient communication between the home health and medical clinicians.
"Having a telehealth appointment at start of care, inclusive of the patient, their caregiver, the home health clinician and the Sound physician is unique and elevates coordination of care between home health and the physician to a new level; true teamwork and patient-centered," said Cole.
The full results of the study are published here.
