Kentucky Health Care Partnership Launches Resource: Eases Nursing Facility Placement for Consumers and Hospitals
Hospitals in the state of Kentucky now have an easier way to select long - term care facilities for patients based on the specific needs and wants of the patient. The Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities partnered with Total Living Choices, a web-based software company providing discharge / referral management services to hospitals, to help make patient placement easier. This new tool, called Care Finder-Pro, allows discharge planners at hospitals to search a database of long-term care facilities in the state of Kentucky and select the facility that best fits the patient's needs. This database helps narrow the selection of long-term care options at a time when patients and families are faced with difficult decisions.
Louisville, Ky. (PRWEB) December 8, 2008
Statewide Insurance Services, a subsidiary of the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities (KAHCF), has entered into an agreement with Total Living Choices, a web-based software company providing discharge/referral management services to hospitals. Their program Care Finder-Pro® provides patients, their families, and hospital discharge planners with tools to narrow and match patient quality of life needs with the appropriate long-term care facilities.
The web-based service will help hospitals to more easily and quickly provide placement to patients at discharge. Selecting care facilities based on specific patient quality of care and quality of life needs links everyone in the process: the hospital, the patient, their families and the post acute care provider. Care Finder-Pro will give hospital decision makers access to detailed information on care facilities throughout the state of Kentucky.
"This new relationship will aid hospitals and nursing facilities in providing effective support to families and seniors through the difficult process of facility selection and placement," said Ruby Jo Cummins Lubarsky, President of KAHCF. "The database helps to qualify the facilities for patients, based on criteria selected. Once a patient lists their needs and wants, facilities included in the database are searched and referrals are made. It's very streamlined and service-oriented."
Patients can search care providers under multiple factors, from basic living needs to financial arrangements to quality of life issues. "The survey we use to gather information from nursing facilities encompasses everything from pets to dietary preferences to languages," said Martin Conner, director sales and marketing, Southern Region, Total Living Choices. "Prior to this arrangement, a centralized database has not existed. This one-stop source provides speed and accuracy to the process. Patients and families in the state will be better served and have a better understanding of the care provisions available up front."
This agreement now opens the door for information on all Kentucky nursing care facilities to be easily accessible by consumers. "It's a win-win situation, with no costs involved to the nursing facilities and personal care homes," said Lubarsky. In addition, consumers can search for care facilities by a link on the KAHCF website (www. kahcf. org) to Total Living Choices programs Facility Finder and Care Interpreter.
"This is a worthy partnership," said Lubarsky. "The process of hospital discharge into a care facility becomes much more effective when patients can get a clear view of what a site offers. The decision becomes easier and more successful for everyone involved."
For hospitals and care facilities, Care Finder-Pro will make the discharge process go much more smoothly. In the past, hospitals working on discharged patient placement would have to make multiple phone calls to facilities. During this labor intensive process, matches were not always effective. A complete and specific view of the patient's needs and wants can be hard to communicate with past methods of information gathering.
"Every care facility should be in this system," said Lubarsky. "It helps everyone - hospitals, nursing facilities and most importantly the consumer. Not charging for participation should motivate nursing facilities to provide information, making a level playing field for all."
Working through Care Finder-Pro offers some additional value to members of KAHCF. While a facility does not have to be a member to participate in this complimentary database, members do receive additional benefits. "They can get reduced pricing on website and video preview development to highlight their facility for potential patients and hospitals to view," said Lubarsky. "In addition, the system can offer some other service enhancements."
About the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities
Established in 1954, the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities (KAHCF) is the trade association that represents proprietary and nonproprietary nursing facilities and personal care homes across the Commonwealth. One of the state affiliates of the American Health Care Association, KAHCF provides a wide variety of services to member facilities. In order to meet the growing needs of the membership, Statewide Insurance Services (SIS) was incorporated in 1992 as a subsidiary of KAHCF.
About Total Living Choices
Total Living Choices is a leading healthcare enterprise software company whose products and services bring together acute-care hospitals, post-acute providers, and patients/families resulting in financial and social benefits for hospitals and providers and increased patient/family education and satisfaction. For information about TLC products and solutions visit www. TLChoices. com.
Care Finder-Pro® is a registered trademark of Total Living Choices.
This information could be helpful to your readers who might be facing difficult decisions of their own.
Please feel free to use the press release or contact me if you would like more information about the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities or Total Living Choices.
Peggy Dineen
On behalf of Total Living Choices
(888) 296-2411 ext. 8
Peggy (at) alberscommunications. com
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