Individuals often see multiple providers along their care journey, from primary care physicians to assorted specialists, both temporary and ongoing. Given the increased likelihood of multiple comorbidities, polypharmacy and other complicating factors, it can be beneficial for those involved in this care to be aware of what the others are doing and how various conditions, treatments and medications might interact.
As much as possible, older adults and their families should be equipped with education and assurance as they navigate new terrain in their personal journeys.
Data can help make this possible.
Describe … Predict … Prescribe
As assisted living and other senior communities increasingly shift toward more proactive, preventive and value-based support, they can leverage the power of data-driven decision making in providing three broad types of care:
- Descriptive, analyzing historical data to help them understand current trends and patterns and identify areas for improvement
- Predictive, to forecast potential risks and proactively deploy preventive measures
- Prescriptive, to make informed decisions and personalize interventions to individuals’ unique needs
Shape Every Aspect of the Community
Data touches practically every aspect of an assisted living community: clinical, safety, social, financial, operational.
Properly analyzed and utilized data can enable a wide range of beneficial activities, processes and developments for the residents in an assisted living community. These may include:
- Personalized service plans that can help improve outcomes. Each resident of a community has unique needs, from nutrition and medications to daily activities and beyond. Personal histories, behavioral patterns and clinical data enable data analytics that can guide the development of individual plans; such data also can be aggregated and analyzed to produce broader insights.
- Proactive health monitoring that helps detect issues and facilitates timely interventions. Real-time monitoring, which is possible through a range of devices, can generate a stream of data on an individual’s vital signs, activity levels and environment. Trends and deviations can help members of a care team respond before an issue becomes a major concern.
- Enhanced social engagement. The impact of loneliness on human health, especially among older adults, has been well documented. By using data to target engagement efforts toward identified needs, assisted living community staff can help increase residents’ mental well-being and quality of life.
- Better communication. Clear, consistent and detailed communication of data across the care ecosystem helps to ease and streamline the individual’s care journey. This includes conversations and other interactions with the resident’s family, when appropriate.
- More accountability. It may be beneficial to a resident to have those involved in the resident’s care be accountable — to the resident as well as to each other. The right data can help everyone understand their own role and responsibilities in the process and how it intersects with others.
- Increased job satisfaction among that same group. Ongoing staffing challenges throughout the healthcare workforce have highlighted the importance of keeping clinicians and other essential staff healthy and happy. Data can help employees work more efficiently, allowing them to find balance in their lives.
- Improved care through stronger risk management and faster emergency response. Intelligent data analytics can reveal changes in behavioral patterns that indicate an individual has increased risk of falling or is exit seeking. That information can enable a timely intervention, helping reduce the number of emergencies.
- Streamlined operations and efficiency. Some benefits that senior living communities may be able to realize through their data may include : more effective resource allocation, optimized staffing, cost savings, and reduced errors and waste.
- Improved regulatory compliance. Data security, privacy, HIPAA and protected health information are among the regulatory considerations for senior living communities. Accurate and up-to-date data can facilitate tracking, reporting, transparency and accountability.
Boost the Bottom Line … and Share the ‘Wealth’
The more that senior living communities and healthcare providers can accomplish of the objectives in the previous section, the healthier their bottom lines are likely to be.
Both types of organizations can be more effective when they share timely and relevant data with one another. When these groups successfully work in concert by sharing data in support of their common goals, their residents/patients can enjoy the benefits.
Data is the wealth that they can share. When they do, they can help each other perform their jobs more effectively, more efficiently and with increased confidence.
Build a Strong Foundation for Improvement
As senior living communities move toward more proactive, value-based care, data is a foundation they should build on.
Available and relevant data includes raw facts and figures about both individuals and groups, their health histories, demographics and trends, and much more. It comes from a wide array of sources:
- Electronic health records. Clinical data available in EHRs includes medical histories, lab results, diagnoses, treatment plans, medications, images and more.
- Claims and other insurance details, billings and other administrative data. This information can reveal trends and tendencies, shape policies and processes, and identify inefficiencies and waste.
- Patient-generated health data. PGHD, which includes heart rate, blood pressure, sleep patterns and other information either actively entered or passively collected by wearable or connected devices, can help care team members develop a more holistic and continuous view of an individual’s health.
- Patient-reported outcomes. For subjective insights about functional status, symptoms like pain or fatigue, mental and emotional well-being, overall quality of life, care satisfaction and related topics, there is no better source for information than the individuals receiving the care.
- Research data. Clinical trials and studies of pharmaceuticals and other treatments can provide a wealth of useful information.
Invest in Technology, Training, Education and Assessment
Senior living communities and healthcare providers alike should consider committing appropriate resources, budget for investments in technological infrastructure, training and resident/patient education and assessment. Technologies may include:
- Hardware such as computers, tablets and printers
- Secure servers
- High-speed internet
- EHR software
Technology has little use, of course, without a corresponding investment in training for the human element. Staff should be trained in a variety of areas, both clinical and interpersonal:
- How to use these systems
- The importance of data and how to interpret and apply it
- How to communicate with residents
- Privacy and regulatory compliance
Finally, the residents or patients should receive appropriate education and assessment. For example, they may need to be taught how to use wearables, smart voice-assistance apps and other technologies. In addition, individuals may be able to help shape the process by expressing their preferences regarding such tools.
Fortified by Data, Brookdale Helps Deliver Positive Outcomes
Brookdale HealthPlus® communities, which launched in 2020, have been rapidly expanding numerically and geographically as they demonstrate the effectiveness of proactive care and care coordination in helping to prevent avoidable ER visits and hospitalizations.
As the Brookdale HealthPlus communities have grown, so has Brookdale’s data set, further increasing the ability to partner in creating positive outcomes. This has made even more providers, provider organizations and payor groups want to collaborate with us, by better allowing us to demonstrate value within the healthcare space, for residents, providers, and the healthcare system as a whole.
When your patient is a Brookdale resident, we will collaborate with you, sharing data as appropriate so that we can meet our shared goal.
Learn More
Reach out to find out more about how Brookdale harnesses data to help improve outcomes and enhance quality of life for its residents, while working with its residents’ providers.