Each year, McKnight’s Long Term Care News, one of the leading publishers of news for the skilled nursing industry, presents its Excellence in Technology Awards.
These awards recognize not only the leaders in technology use but the results they achieve and the impact the have had on their communities. This year, Pikeville Nursing and Rehab in Pikeville Kentucky, and a partner of TapestryHealth was awarded the Gold Medal in the High Tech, High Touch category. We couldn’t be prouder of them, or of our partnership and this award was well-earned.
Pikeville, located in a city of fewer than 7,000 residents, may be in the heart of the Appalachian coal country but this 106-bed facility delivers “big time” care. TapestryHealth provides them and their residents with a 24/7 primary care team that delivers well-care, daily rounds, emergency care and specialty care right to the residents’ bedside. This year, Pikeville added two more TapestryHealth services. Our Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) system was put into use to help care for their diabetic patients. Dr. David Chess, founder of TapestryHealth, explained that “this patient monitoring system transmits blood sugar readings to our clinician assigned to Pikeville Nursing and Rehab via a cellular connection. Our clinician can check on that patient many times a day, far more often than a facility nurse would be able to do.” According to Derek Bevins, the Administrator at Pikeville, “Results are much faster, and monitoring is a lot better because it automatically populates our spreadsheets. We close that gap and our providers can react immediately and treat the patient”. The Tapestry RPM also generates weekly reports that allows the medical team of Pikeville personnel and TapestryHealth clinicians to spot trends that can lead to new protocols improve patient care.
The second TapestryHealth program that Pikeville added was Tapestry’s Transitional Care Management program. Pikeville has an outstanding reputation for effective short-term rehab, and that means they regularly discharge patients back to their own homes. But being discharged doesn’t mean a person’s need for medical care is over. Tapestry Transitional Care Management “allows us to extend our services into the community” said Derek Bevins. It’s all coordinated by the facility’s TapestryHealth clinician, who meets with the patient before they leave and then calls them after they arrive home. The clinician coordinates with the patient’s caregivers at home or with their outside home care staff to ensure a smooth transition from the facility to home. Together they make sure that the patient’s home care instructions are being followed, that medication is delivered and administered properly, and that the patient has no new health issues that should be addressed. According to the Pikeville staff, the TCM program has helped to reduce re-hospitalizations after patients have gone home. But the patients themselves are the ones really singing the praises of this program, and clearly that fact was not missed by the judges of the HighTech, High Touch Technology Award.
