COVID-positive patients at some Texas hospitals now can be treated and monitored at home throughout their recoveries as part of a program through Dallas-based TheraCare Home Health, part of the Cantex Continuing Care Network. This can enable partnering hospitals to reduce patients’ length of stay while also optimizing staffing resources and bed use, according to the company.
Patients receive a 4G Samsung tablet computer and Bluetooth biometric devices upon discharge, enabling them to record their daily vital signs. The tablet computer comes preloaded with care plans, symptom surveys, educational videos and more, all customizable to each patient’s condition and needs, so that clinicians can provide individualized patient care. Patients also have the ability to communicate directly with healthcare providers by phone, text message or video call.
“As a home healthcare provider, we see firsthand how challenging the pandemic is for hospitals and patients. We also had to re-think what it meant to deliver high-quality at-home care in the safest way possible,” said Ty Jelinek, Cantex director of home- and community-based services. “We invested a significant amount of thought and care into developing this telehealth resource because we want to be a part of the solution.”
TheraCare also has partnered with Cantex’s 37 skilled nursing facilities across Texas to improve patient transitions from SNF to home.
Although the telehealth program initially is focused on COVID-19 patients and prevention, TheraCare said it also will use telehealth to monitor high-risk patients including those with diabetes, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
