Role of Assessments
Home health agencies use virtual assessments to obtain and review patients’ conditions remotely. Patients can manage their conditions at-home and self-report their progress and any changes or concerns. This helps agencies prioritize the patients with the most acute need for care and focus on patient who may be at risk for a rehospitalization.
By requesting that patients complete quick assessments throughout the episode of care, clinicians:
- Learn more about the patient and his/her home environment
- Understand the social and emotional well-being of the patient, especially if the patient is living alone
- Assess medication adherence and compliance, especially if a patient is unable to manage one’s condition and has recently been discharged from a care setting
Facilitating Assessments
With Synzi’s virtual care platform, agencies can schedule and conduct patient assessments on a regular basis. The assessments can be created to reflect an agency’s (or a referral partner’s) clinical pathways and easily assigned to the patient and/or family caregiver.
A range of question types (e.g., single choice, multiple choice, yes/no, rating, and text entry) enables agencies to use the most appropriate survey design to obtain critical patient data such as:
- How is the patient progressing?
- Is the patient taking the medication / following the treatment as prescribed?
- Does the plan of care may need to be changed now or prior to the next visit?
- Has the patient’s condition worsened and is an immediate intervention needed?
- How do the patient’s results compare to the agency’s census or a specific patient population?
- Is the patient satisfied with the care received to-date in person? Virtually?
- Does the patient have any questions which were not answered during a prior interaction?
In the survey design, administrators can determine who will answer which assessment, in what order and at what time. Also, alerts can be customized so appropriate team members (and referral partners) are quickly made aware of any changes in the patients’ condition.
During the pandemic, the usage of virtual assessments has reduced the need for some in-person visits along with the risk of infection and transmission for clinicians, patients, and family caregivers. Using Synzi’s platform, agencies asked patients to self-report symptoms and situations which may mean they are potentially at-risk. Based on the assessment’s results, a clinician determined the next steps to managing the patient’s care and whether or not further testing may be needed for the patient and his/her family.
The interactive aspect of Synzi’s communication platform provides the patient with multiple opportunities to share patient progress as well as raise any potential concerns with the care prior to the patient completing the HHCAHPS survey. A virtual care platform that enables proactive assessments can help agencies achieve better outcomes for their patients, higher survey scores, and greater referrals vs. competitors.