Wednesday October 3rd,
9:00 – 10:00 am

With the limitations on health care dollars and a system imperative to be creative and innovative in maximizing efficiency and effectiveness of those dollars partnerships and alliances were created to test telehomecare service delivery as an appropriate approach to home care visiting. Using a shared leadership framework, where key stakeholders are engaged in the process of decision-making, a core team including vendors, staff, clinical experts and business development staff were identified. The project design included identification of criteria for client groups to be served, policies and procedures, data collection tools and evaluation methodologies to evaluate client, staff and partner impact. As part of the process, issues regarding privacy and confidentially of using electronic home visiting were resolved.

Although limited in scope, the pilot included evaluation of client, nurse and partner satisfaction, and cost effectiveness and efficiency of telehomecare as service delivery options. In addition, data regarding the suitability of telehomecare as a viable option were also gathered. Over 250 clients were assessed for eligibility of telehomecare with < 10% meeting the established criteria for telehomecare visiting. Evaluation results will be shared in this presentation along with lessons learned and next steps. Implementation and evaluation of a telehomecare pilot has enable all stakeholders to better understand the role of telehomecare and identify best implementation approaches of this creative and innovative service delivery modality.

Cheryl Reid-Haughian RN, BHScN, MHScN, CCHN ( C )

As Director, Professional Practice with ParaMed Home Health Care, Cheryl’s work energies focus on identifying innovative and transformational approaches to deliver quality care for clients, maximize quality of work life for staff; enhance organizational strategic planning to respond to health system impacts and development of the clinical knowledge and capacity of staff.