With the Referral Management System online software, we can replace a complex maze of paper logs, spreadsheets and manual reports with simple, secure, centralized referral tracking and reporting

The main benefit is cutting down on paperwork (an estimated 50,000 pages of referral documents per year).  Another benefit is less confusion or loss of essential paperwork.  Being able to view information from any location also eliminates the need for duplicate paperwork (helping the environment too).  I see the biggest benefit as saving time and saving time is saving money.  And as we know, both can be put to better use in nursing homes and rehab centers.

I featured an article on genetic testing in my “In the News” posting on Friday, but felt the need to comment a little further on it.  The article out of the Salisbury, Maryland Daily Times discusses how legislators are trying to prohibit long term care insurers from using genetic testing to determine coverage.  This comes on the heels of legislation in that state to also prohibit the use of genetic testing to determine health insurance coverage.  Some of the obvious ramifications of genetic discrimination include higher premiums, rejection of insurance, or cancellation of existing policies.

Now, before we get too excited over this right now we need to realize that the DNA testing that is available right now can only tell us if we have a predisposition for a disease such as Alzheimer’s, certain cancers, diabetes or heart disease.  The markers found in our genes do not indicate that we have or will have these diseases.  The experts are saying that they can combine your genetic markers with your environmental indicators to find your odds for getting some of these diseases. 

Critics say that this is entirely too premature.  These tests are not regulated and are not even fully accurate.  They are the infancy of understanding the genetic codes and insurance companies should not make decisions based on the tests because it is all so preliminary.  The Today Show ran a light story on this several weeks ago.  The 7 minute video is worth a watch if you know little about this subject.

Back to the legislation in Maryland…the article interviews Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance who makes a good point.  He says that it is the genetic testing itself that is encouraging people to purchase long term care insurance.  Makes sense.  If I find out that I have 5 out of 7 genetic markers for a stroke and I know that I don’t exercise or eat right, I might be more apt to go out an buy a policy.

Insurers are against the legislation, but amendments have been proposed with the help of the insurers.  So we’ll have to see where this one ends up.

What do you think?  Should Long Term Care Insurers be allowed to use genetic testing when determining Long Term Care coverage?

A Long Term Care facility in Ontario, Canada announced that their productivity has increased by 25% by using a new location technology by Intelligent InSites.  Basically, this system has “small pendants, equipment tags, and location monitoring sensors installed throughout the facility” which allows for quick identification of where staff, caregivers and much needed equipment is at any given moment. 

This system is a necessity in every Long Term Care facility and I don’t mean from an efficiency standpoint.  At a certain point it becomes about the level of care you can give to the residents.  If a lift is needed in a room because a bedridden resident needs to use the bathroom, then the staff should be able to know where the lift is, whether or not it is in use and when it can be brought to the resident’s room.  Instead, long term care facility staff sometimes take hours looking for that particular piece of equipment and getting it to the resident.  Time lost and discomfort for their resident.

I recently spent some time at Northwestern’s Prentice Women’s Hospital and was extremely impressed with the technology there.  Besides the Internet access in every room, flat screen tvs, state of the art medical equipment, all the nurses wore wireless units where if they are paged directly by their patients, they have the ability to talk to them no matter where they were on the floor.  If I were to page my nurse, she could answer me directly and assess the urgency of my need , answer my need over the speaker or let me know how long it would take her to get to my room.  Something as small as this helps the efficiency of the nurses and increases the comfort level of the patients.  Something that could greatly increase the quality of nursing home care.

One of the best features of the Intelligent InSites technology are the pendants worn by residents where they can press a button and the “staff is immediately alerted to the name, photo, and location of the resident making the request.”  These pendants also help residents in the Alzheimer’s unit as they can notify staff via a handheld PDA should someone begin to wander off.  Intelligent InSites feels that their pendant feature “promote[s] the independence of the residents while ensuring their safety.”

For more information on this story, please see the news release on BusinessWire.