What is home telehealth?

Home telehealth is the remote patient monitoring (RPM) between a health care provider and a patient at their place of residency. The focus of Acadian Telehealth is to help home health agencies monitor their patients, particularly those with chronic diseases. Acadian Telehealth will assist the home health agencies in monitoring for any behavior changes in their patients, helping the patient with self management of the disease and collecting data on their vital signs 24/7. Acadian Telehealth uses a monitoring device called the Viterion 100, which is a product manufactured by Bayer and Panasonic.

Why Acadian Telehealth Monitoring?

Acadian Telehealth has taken a leadership role in the region by implementing a telehealth program. Acadian believes that telehealth technology today, properly implemented, can now deliver improved patient care outcomes while having a significant positive impact on the outcomes for home health agencies.

Is the technology HIPAA-compliant?

Yes. Acadian Telehealth uses highly encrypted resources to meet HIPAA's high security and privacy standards. All data exchanged between Acadian, the home health agency and the patent is secured using state-of-the-art encryption technology. For added security, multiple firewalls and authentications are utilized to protect the patients' personal health information.

How much will telehealth technology cost the patient?

The cost of Acadian's service is currently being absorbed by the home health agencies. The reimbursement comes in with the decrease of unnecessary skilled nurse visits and mileage. With P4P coming into effect, the benefit of decreasing your hospitalization rate will also assist in the cost of the monitor.

How much will telehealth technology cost the home care agency?

The “true” rental program that is offered by Acadian decreases the large capital investment that is seen when you purchase your monitors directly from the vendor. The rental fee is as low as $119 a month. The rental is on a month to month basis and if the monitor is not needed, you simply mail it back to us.

Is home telehealth covered under insurance?

Home telehealth is not directly reimbursed under Medicare. Many home health agencies use it for cost savings and to improve the quality of patient care. Home telehealth costs approximately one-third of the cost of an in-home visit. Some private insurers will reimburse for home telehealth.

Does home telehealth replace a home health physical visit?

In some cases, Acadian Telehealth will replace a physical visit. However, the technology will provide an opportunity to deliver a greater level of care, augmenting existing services. Acadian Telehealth enables the healthcare professional to conduct routine monitoring via technology; enables great access to the patient population; and can be more focused on patients with critical needs. With Acadian Telehealth's highly trained staff doing the monitoring, should a patient become at risk, the home agency provider will be immediately notified and the patient will receive prompt response. Telehealth technology makes each visit to the patient more cost effective, while providing quicker access and intervention to those patients with at-risk needs.

Does the home health agency need a physician's order to have home telehealth?

Yes. A home health agency needs a physician order 100 % of the time.

Will this technology replace nursing staff in home health?

No. The whole idea behind Acadian Telehealth is to enable nursing staff of home care agencies to have greater reach and a better management tool to ensure the timely, effective care of their patient populations. The technology used by Acadian provides home care agencies increased access to the patient, thus allowing for quicker nursing interventions. In fact, many agencies believe that using telehealth technology can increase staff productivity.