Finding an available senior care facility for a loved one during a hospital stay can be an emotional and often difficult task, but Electronic Caregiver, a remote patient monitoring company based in New Mexico, is making it easier for patients to locate quality senior living options and care services in real time by partnering with Realtime Senior Living.
 
Through Arizona-based Realtime Senior Living’s apps, case managers and care coordinators will soon be able to search and direct patients and their families to senior living facilities equipped with Electronic Caregiver’s health and safety monitoring devices.
 
“With this partnership, we are really looking to reimagine the hospital discharge process for families and providers alike,” said Electronic Caregiver chief clinical officer Tim Washburn. “We have patients who stay in hospitals extra days because they aren’t able to finalise placement in a senior care facility, so there’s a huge cost to the hospitals; there’s a huge cost to the patients and their families. Hospitals are places where people are when they’re sick, so if you’re going to be in a hospital, you’re very first goal is to get out of the hospital. Anything we can do to speed that up so it’s a good transition, that’s in our wheelhouse, and that’s what this partnership should help us to do.”
 
When independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities are equipped with Electronic Caregiver’s medical technology, it’s a sign to health professionals and clients that the organisation is taking patient safety, security and satisfaction to the next level, Washburn said.
 
“It’s optional,” he said. “They don’t have to do it. They do it because we can increase safety, increase engagement and increase communication with the family through our technology. So, it’s like a two-star hotel versus a five-star hotel.”
 
Electronic Caregiver’s products and services include the Premier, a wrist pendant featuring a medical concern button that connects users with emergency medical dispatch operators at any time, and the Pro Health, which provides vitals monitoring and emergency response. Both devices offer medication reminders and Pocket MD, a round-the-clock physician-on-demand service.
 
The partnership will add value to Realtime’s current search app, which helps case managers quickly find available care services in the area that meet patient’s personalised needs.
 
“We’ve been looking for opportunities to enhance the experience within the communities and homes that we partner with,” said Steve Gilbert, founder and CEO of Realtime Senior Living. “I think of it as being a premier provider, and what can you do to ensure that you are taking care of your clients, helping them stay longer? You put a lot of work up front in getting the client into the living facility, now what can you do to ensure that you are managing their health, their care, trying to keep them from relapsing or going back into a hospital setting and, to me, that’s where remote monitoring and Electronic Caregiver come in and provide a tremendous service for these clients.”
 
Washburn and Gilbert said they hoped to launch the app featuring Electronic Caregiver providers in early 2020. The app will continue to evolve with the partnership to meet the needs of patients and senior care facilities.
 
“I really see us innovating the market and bringing a solution to these hospitals and skilled nursing facilities and accountable care organisations that they’ve never seen before, where they have a total readmissions programme where they can help their clients more effectively and efficiently find the services they need after their acute stay and then get into a premier provider,” Gilbert said. “I really see this as a very innovative partnership and a unique value proposition for our two companies to bring into the market, and I’m very excited about it.”
 
Electronic Caregiver, founded in 2009, has created a voice and visual sensing, 3D, artificial intelligence-based, interactive residential caregiver. It provides automated home care and safety devices across the USA to thousands of clients and is promoted by leading health organisations.
 
The company has invested in patient screenings, research and development, and deploying a mobile science lab for nearly eight years in 32 states, while collaborating with hundreds of health and senior service providers. It has more than 100 employees with national headquarters in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
 
Realtime Senior Living aims to make finding available living options and care services that meet patient’s personalised needs simple and fast. Professionals, case managers and care coordinators can view options for clients in real time with current and future availability. Its smartphone and tablet applications allow communities to update availability in real time, and searchers to find the available options that meet their needs, then directly connect to the options.