Enhancing Patient Care: Utilizing Software in Chronic Illness Management

Innovation has taken great strides over the years as technology continues to grow and shift how we live, work and care in the spaces around us. We are collecting lots of data while we witness the consumerization of healthcare grow – we are living on the cusp of an evolution and increased sophistication of clinical technology in healthcare. The advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) within companies such as Google and Amazon[1] could forge new grounds in the way we coordinate patient care. Care management is evolving and the industry is taking note.

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Cancer Survivor Engagement: Your Successes & Challenges

We partnered with The Samfund at the 2016 ASTRO Annual Meeting, a yearly gathering held for the radiology oncology community dedicated to improving patient care, to survey attendees about their current approach to cancer survivor engagement, and the challenges they faced in doing more. It was an eye opening exercise with a positive outcome – we pledged to make a donation to The Samfund each time a survey was completed, and are pleased to donate $1500 to this great cause. Thanks to those who joined us at ASTRO!

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Interview with Samfund CEO, Samantha Watson: Insight into the intersection of finance & oncology

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Last month we announced that we’ll be partnering with The Samfund at ASTRO, and today we’re pleased to share an interview with The Samfund CEO, Samantha Watson. Sam is a two-time young adult cancer survivor and passionate about providing support to other young adult survivors. It’s our pleasure to share her insight into the unique financial challenges faced by survivors, and how the healthcare industry has responded.

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Meet Rebecca Lane, Workflow and Applications Specialist

o daily operations , and we got to know her a little better here:

What was your first job?
My first “grown up” job was as a Gunner’s Mate in the U.S. Navy. I was stationed on board the USS Rushmore LSD-47 in San Diego, CA. 

What are you most proud of in your career so far?
I’m very proud that for as long as I can remember I haven’t woken up in the morning or gone to bed at night not loving the work that I do.

What are you most looking forward to working on at Equicare?
I’m VERY much looking forward to working with a new product and assisting clients with being successful in its use. I’m also excited to be joining a company that is innovative and puts so much effort into ensuring client needs are being met. 

What does workflow analysis mean to you?
My definition of Workflow Analysis is analyzing current and future state workflows for all processes surrounding the use of an electronic medical record system and associated supporting modules. The intent of all this is gaining efficiencies in clinical operations, improved task management and internal compliance, and closing gaps in essential communications.

What do you see as the major benefit of establishing a good workflow?
There are many advantages to establishing solid and practical workflows. But, at the top of my list is the ability to eliminate confusion when it comes to performance of tasks.

How do you approach training in a fast-paced industry like healthcare?
I’m flexible in the delivery approach of training services with the understanding that each site is unique. That, along with staying up to date on industry expectations and current/future challenges that clinical sites face, is important in ensuring that training will be delivered successfully and will be valuable to the staff.  

You need to go on holiday tomorrow- where would you go?
Marrakech, Morocco!!  I love the food and Turkish Baths and the coffee!!   

What would you eat for your last meal on earth?
Everything.  Dipped in Chocolate.

We agree with her feelings about both chocolate and the importance of a good workflow so we’re looking forward to Rebecca’s contribution to your success.  To discuss workflow and applications training, contact Rebecca at rebecca.lane@equicarehealth.com

Customer referral program: Help us spread the good news

Calling all Equicare users!  Are you happy with your experience?  Do you know another organization that could benefit from care coordination?

Introducing the Equicare Customer Referral Program

HandshakeIf you’re a friend of Equicare, why not spread the good news?  Nothing instills confidence in a prospective customer like a recommendation from a current user, so if you’re happy with Equicare, we’d like to enlist your help. Provide us with a referral to a health care provider interested in Equicare, and to show our appreciation, we’ll provide both of your organizations with a credit worth up to $3000 if they purchase EQUICARE CS.

How does the referral program work?

Complete this form to send us a referral, or just contact your sales manager with the details.  To qualify, the organization you refer can’t be an existing Equicare customer.  If the organization you referred to us purchases EQUICARE CS we will provide both of your organizations with a credit worth up to $3000 following the purchase.  This credit can be used towards Equicare  training, support,and services, registration at an educational event, or other avenues that suit your needs.  Rewards will be given to the referring and purchasing organizations, not to the individuals involved in the referral program.

Customer referral

We’re a proud partner in National Health IT Week!

This October, Equicare Health — in support of the advancement of health information technology (IT) to help improve healthcare — is a proud partner in National Health IT Week. National Health IT Week offers healthcare stakeholders an opportunity to unite under one banner, expressing the benefits that health IT brings to US healthcare. “One Voice, One Vision.”

Comprehensive health care reform is not possible without system-wide adoption of health IT, which improves the quality of healthcare delivery, increases patient safety, decreases medical errors, and strengthens the interaction between patients and healthcare providers.

With Meaningful Use now providing the way forward, eligible providers across the country increasingly understand the benefits for themselves and their patients, and are adopting Meaningful Use-compliant electronic health records (EHRs).

Initiated in 2006 by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), National Health IT Week has emerged as a landmark occasion for using health IT as part of the overall solution to improve America’s healthcare as a bipartisan, federally-led, market-driven initiative.

The Week consists of events in Washington DC and across the country and includes National Health IT Week participants — vendors, provider organizations, payers, pharmaceutical/biotech companies, government agencies, industry/professional associations, research foundations, and consumer protection groups — all working together to elevate national attention to the advantages of advancing health IT.

Visit www.HealthITWeek.org for a full list of partners and updates on the Week’s activities. Working together with a growing coalition of stakeholders, Equicare is helping to transform healthcare for all.

Navigating the Cancer Experience @ AONN+ West Coast Regional Meeting

Thanks for joining us at the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) West Regional Meeting in Seattle earlier this week. And congratulations to RN Navigator, Robin Munoz, from California Cancer Center who won a FitBit in the Equicare prize draw!

AONN+ is the largest professional organization dedicated to navigation and we were pleased to sponsor this event, which gathered more than 150 nurse and patient navigators from west of the Mississippi. Attendees discussed the advancement of the navigation profession in the changing healthcare system, including:

  • issues regarding the evolution of the role of navigation in healthcare;
  • strategies for navigating diverse patient populations by cancer type and environmental factors;
  • methods for providing patient support and guidance in the age of personalized cancer care;
  • best practices regarding survivorship and psychosocial care; and
  • Commission on Cancer (CoC) pillars.

UCLA-based Jacqueline Casillas, MD, MSHS, contributed to the CoC conversation by focusing on the importance of the survivorship care plan in the continuum of care.

“Survivorship care plans help survivors navigate their healthcare needs by serving as their own health advocates,” said Jacqueline. Drawing upon case studies, she demonstrated how people have successfully developed these plans and addressed the needs of diverse patient populations.

At Equicare Health, we recognize the critical importance of patient navigation for improving patient outcomes. Our ECS comprehensive care coordination solution helps Nurse Navigators care for cancer patients from screening to survivorship—including navigation and psychosocial distress screening tools, survivorship care plans, and a secure, user-friendly patient portal.
Equicare booth @ AONN+ West Regional Meeting

Thanks for joining us at HIMSS15!

Thanks to everyone who made HIMSS15 in Chicago a successful event this year! Our first year exhibiting at HIMSS, we joined more than 1,300 exhibitors and 40,000+ attendees for this world-class event focused on major global issues in healthcare—including care coordination, population health management, and optimizing cost efficiencies.

Equicare booth at HIMSS15
Before the floodgates opened.

Prominent keynote speakers, including Former President George W. Bush and current National Care Coordinator Dr. Karen DeSalvo, addressed the necessity of patient-focused and cost-effective care, as well as the large-scale impact of developing comprehensive population health management systems.

Steve Lieber, President & CEO of HIMSS, echoed these ideas, noting that organizations must embrace technology as a vital tool for connecting people to the healthcare system and affecting critical change to improve care.

At Equicare, we support these goals in everything we do. EQUICARE CS, our comprehensive care coordination solution, helps organizations improve patient outcomes with better quality care, while increasing operational efficiency and reducing costs. Everyone wins!

 

 

 

Recognizing our success

We are plea2015 Branham 300 logosed to announce that we have cracked the “Top 250 Canadian ICT Companies” on the Branham300 in only our 2nd year on the list — moving from # 277 in 2014 to #244 this year.

We are in good company, with the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Canada once again achieving year-over-year growth and setting a revenue record of $90.9 billion.

The Branham300 is a listing of Canada’s top public and private ICT companies, as ranked by revenues.

For more information about the Branham300: http://www.branham300.com/

 

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