Senior Telehealth Physician Services at EntelMed.
Our vision, at EntelMed, is to create the most comprehensive system of physician services geared towards our senior population by leveraging telehealth, remote patient monitoring and understanding the pressure points in the current fractured institutionalized delivery system that exists in the US and providing systemic solutions. Our goal is to keep our seniors healthy, stable and in the highest ambulatory state that is possible for them to be in. We look to be a patient advocate and connector within the continuum of care to ensure that quality care is delivered timely, efficiently, and patient care plans are well communicated. We strive to be good steward by sparing community resources and will work diligently to reduce the large number of unnecessary hospital admissions and readmissions that occur year in and year out in the existing healthcare ecosystem.
Our initial target area is developing solutions for Seniors that are in SNFs and Assisted Living facilities. We also plan to create a comprehensive solution working with Home Health providers with the end goal of keeping seniors healthy and happy in their own homes for as long as humanly possible. The current technology wave will continue to grow with the further implementation of artificial intelligence and EntelMed plans to be in the forefront of this evolution.
Skilled Nursing Medicine
Historically, SNFs have had to recruit paid medical directors to give care to their patients and comply with Medicare and Medicaid regulations. These physicians are typically spread too thin and they need to cover a large number of facilities so they can afford to practice medicine. They now have begun employing Nurse Practitioners as a way of covering even more SNFs. Often, care is not as timely and hospital ERs are the default mechanism for patient treatment which is the primary driver for unnecessary hospital admissions. Communication on continuity of care in this system can be difficult. The physician at the hospital was different than the busy medical director, who then discharges to home or home health, and yet another physician gets involved.
EntelMed has primary care physicians and psychiatrists who can get involved with care if needed by simply registering the patient scheduling a telehealth visit and connecting with us. Our plan is to be either the backup to your existing medical director relationships and/ or we are fully capable of being the attending physician.
Attending Physician Model at Skilled Nursing Homes
Some Skilled Nursing facilities are looking for new attending physicians as an alternative to the existing circuit rider approach mentioned above. At EntelMed, our model entails a comprehensive initial exam and care plan, followed up with ongoing telehealth visits and a default of onsite evaluation prior to transferring to the ER. This leverage of technology allows for more timely patient visits, better tracking and follow up and is financially more cost efficient by utilizing onsite physician coverage when truly needed. The possibilities in our model are endless as we begin to add remote monitoring, physician specialists, connect with home health providers and continue to coordinate post discharge care. This structure will offer our clients a comprehensive continuum of care to better prepare for value based contracting and manage the readmission penalties that many managed care companies have adopted in their contracting models.
Assisted Living Physician Care with House Call Backup
Certainly, the COVID pandemic has shown us that patients leaving into the community and going to physician offices, ERs and urgent care centers put their center at risk for spreading COVID and often are required to self-quarantine after these visits. The number of physicians who are willing to travel to assisted living centers has certainly shrunk. EntelMed intends to be a viable alternative to provide these residents with “state of the art” care done timely and efficiently using our technologically advanced telehealth platform. Our goal is also to provide the same comprehensive care that we give to the skilled nursing patients to those who are living in assisted living and congregate senior housing locations. In addition to our robust network of telehealth physicians, we plan to recruit additional local physicians who are willing to provide house calls if needed to those patients needing actual hands on interaction to best diagnose and treat their illness. This approach will provide more thorough care and also keep assisted living seniors out of more expensive ERs and Urgent care facilities.
In addition to serving the episodic needs of our clients, we can also serve as the ongoing primary care provider for residents. Excellent care received while staying in the safety of your home.