the changing role of hospitals

HOSPITALS ARE NOW FOR THE really SICK  

Even before COVID-19 struck, hospitalization was an increasingly dangerous proposition for many elderly and vulnerable patients. But now the risk of contracting C. Diff and MRSA infections pale in comparison to getting COVID-19.

In a few months we will enter flu season which will compound the COVID-19 problem even further. Worse, hurricane season is already in full swing in Florida, home to nearly 2000 skilled nursing facilities. Healthcare providers have rapidly adapted to the changing landscape by performing impromptu triage of patients and try to send to the hospital only those patients suspected of COVD-19 or those with more serious non-COVID symptoms from their chronic conditions. This approach leaves a growing number of patients with mild to moderate symptoms in limbo.  

In skilled nursing facilities and assisted living residences many elderly patients have been on lockdown for months and have not had their routine maintenance care for chronic conditions such as heart failure, COPD, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. The result has been varying levels of subclinical instability which in turn increases their susceptibility for developing more serious illness and death from a coronavirus infection. 

We created the Virtual Acute Care program to be one solution for this gap in the care of SNF and ALF residents. Our programs specifically focus on treating residents with mild to moderate symptoms that are not serious enough for hospitalization but fall outside the routine care delivered by SNF staff. We partner with local medical specialists to provide real life care at the facilities and support their interventions with high quality actionable data from state of the art biosensor monitoring by artificial intelligence backed learning algorithms. The programs are adaptable and scalable for the care of SNF and ALF residents sheltered in place during any emergency whether its the on-going coronavirus pandemic or a new problem related to hurricanes.