BayCare HomeCare Leverages Telehealth and RPM to Individualize Patient Care

BayCare HomeCare has provided quality home care to Florida residents since 1976, serving 13 counties on the west coast of Florida. With a 4.5-star rating from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), BayCare Home Care is committed to providing high-quality clinical care, combined with the best patient experience at a competitive cost.

Challenge
BayCare HomeCare initially launched telehealth and RPM services in 2016, but as COVID-19 cases spread throughout Florida, BayCare sought an RPM platform that would provide customizable options to patients across the care continuum and allow for rapid enrollment of COVID-19 and vulnerable patients. To successfully deploy a new RPM platform during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), BayCare wanted to anticipate potential roadblocks to deployment and address the following challenges:

• Patient Resistance: Ensure patients engage in the platform, whether enrolled for short-term COVID-19 monitoring or longer-term care management.
• Clinician Buy-In: Support clinicians in the transition to a new platform, considering the increased workload and staffing shortages resulting from the PHE.
• Limited In-Person Access to Patients: Prevent community spread and protect staff by limiting in-home visits while enabling easy, immediate access to care when needed.

Solution
In May 2020, BayCare HomeCare launched its telehealth and RPM program in partnership with Health Recovery Solutions (HRS), customizing the patient experience by offering two platforms: PatientConnect Complete and PatientConnect Mobile. BayCare leveraged PatientConnect Complete to support high-acuity patients at an increased risk of hospitalization, taking into account patient age, diagnosis, and comfort level with technology, among other factors. In addition, BayCare deployed a mobile solution, PatientConnect Mobile, to rapidly enroll lower acuity patients using their personal smartphone devices.

BayCare’s RPM Program Supported Patients and Clinicians through:

• Virtual visits and daily interactions, supporting isolated patients, protecting staff from exposure, and reducing care costs by offering SN, PT, OT, ST, and chaplain services.
• Immediate Physician Consultations via the Transitional Care Management program, connecting patients to a physician when needed. Patients would then be transitioned back to their Primary Care Physician (PCP) or connected with a PCP upon discharge.
• 24/7 Biometric Monitoring to identify potential cases of COVID-19, support patients’ recovery from COVID-19, and enhancing self-management of chronic care patients.

Results
Over one year, BayCare HomeCare monitored over 4,000 patients, including those diagnosed with COVID-19, congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and pneumonia, among others.

During this period, BayCare HomeCare’s RPM team performed over 11,000 virtual visits with patients to augment in-home visits and provide immediate support to patients when needed. BayCare’s use of biometric monitoring, symptom surveys, and virtual visits helped BayCare reduce care costs by six dollars per patient, per day and record over 100 O2 hospitalization saves.

The additional support and education provided to patients through the RPM program resulted in a patient satisfaction rate of over 93%, including 91% of patients stating they would recommend the RPM program to a family member or friend.