Hi it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME where we provide tailor made solutions for long-term ventilated Adults& Children with Tracheostomies by improving their Quality of life and where we also provide tailor made solutions to hospitals and Intensive Care Units to save money and resources, whilst providing Quality Care!

In the last blog I shared

The 101 guide how to look after long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies at home!

You can check out last week’s blog here!

In this week’s blog I want to share an article from the BUSINESS STANDARD magazine that published an article about the benefits of home care. The title of the article is

Treatment at home can be 20-30% cheaper

In this article the facts are highlighted once again that home care is better for Patients and their families, as well as more cost effective for health care funding agencies or privately paying Patients!

The article also highlights the facts that home care is not only for lower acuity Patients in a hospital, but is also a viable option for long-term Intensive Care Patients.

This makes total sense, as Intensive Care continues to be the most expensive department in a hospital and it also continues to be an area with huge demand  on their precious and expensive resources, such as beds, staff and equipment.

And the price tag for Intensive Care beds is often in execss of $5,000 per bed day. It makes total sense to take advantage of third party accredited Intensive Home Care services like INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME.

With INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME services, most of the time we can reduce the costs by up to 50%.

Therefore we can save hundreds of thousands of Dollars $$$ of tax payers money and improve the quality of life for long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies and their families and free up expensive, precious and in-demand ICU beds!

Here is the article and a link to the original article

Treatment at home can be 20-30% cheaper

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pf/treatment-at-home-can-be-20-30-cheaper-116071000592_1.html

Getting hospitalised is not a pleasant experience, either for the patient or her family members. It is unavoidable in case of surgery or other serious ailments. But, what if you can avail of the same health care services in your home? Today, thanks to home health care providers, it is possible to get 70 per cent of all medical services at home. The cost would be 25-30 per cent lower, as you save on room rent.

Why opt for treatment at home

Today, hospitals want to offer services to patients beyond their doors, thereby bringing down hospital admissions for basic health care needs (which can be handled at home). This will allow hospitals to focus on specialist consultations and surgeries, says Meena Ganesh, co-founder, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer(CEO), Portea Medical, which partners about 60 hospitals across the country. “Our partner hospitals benefit from shorter average lengths of stay and higher average revenue per operating bed,” she says.

Getting treatment at home can be a saving for patients, says Vipin Pathak, CEO and co-founder, Care24. Sometimes, the patient can be discharged after three days but decides to stay in the hospital for two more days because there is nobody at home. In such cases, getting treated at home can save money.

“Most hospitals earn from the services they offer, not from rental. After surgery is over, not much is done on the patient from the service perspective. The patient is only occupying the bed, for which he/she pays rent. And, since in India there is a net deficit in the number of beds, hospitals cannot take in new patients if there are no empty beds,” he says.

Vivek Srivastava, co-founder and CEO, health care at Home India (HCAH), agrees most good corporate hospitals are generally full, especially in the intensive care unit (ICU). So, they prefer to discharge those patients who have gone through the initial intensive phase and are in the maintenance phase, where the doctor is not actively involved. Only then can the hospital admit more needy patients. Also, patients who are immuno-compromised can catch infections in hospital. So, those who don’t require active intervention are better off being treated at home.

Services offered

Medical care delivered at home ranges from treating everyday illnesses, to post-surgery support, to the management of chronic diseases, to elder care and preventive care. Palliative care/pain management and infant and pregnancy care are some other services offered.

Post-operative care: It is available for a variety of surgeries like cardiac bypass, total knee and hip replacement, organ transplant, bariatric surgery, gastric surgery, onco surgery and kidney transplant, etc. It includes service with assisted discharge, post-operative dressing and wound management, stitch removal and drain care, diet monitoring, home IV antibiotic therapy, physiotherapy, ambulation, vital signs monitoring, pain management, patient’s education and family counselling,

Geriatric care: This includes assistance in daily living, such as feeding or bathing the patient, companion care, emergency care, etc. “At least 60 per cent of our base of patients are above 60 years and we are seeing the greatest demand in this area,” says Ganesh.

Home oncology or cancer treatment: It includes procedures like at home, chemotherapy, chemo port flushing, blood transfusions, colostomy care, PICC line dressing, pain management, palliative and end-of-life care, psychological counselling and family counselling.

Infant and mother care: This includes training the mother to feed the baby or deal with post-partum depression, etc. There is increasing demand for this, as most families are nuclear families and often there are no older family members to help, says Pathak.

Everyday services: These include catheter insertion, injection administration, cannula insertion, wound dressing, enema application, suppository application, etc.

You can get services of paramedics like nurses, attendants, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, nutritionists, dieticians, counsellors, attendants, etc. You can also rent equipment like wheel chair, patient bed (with mattress), cardiac table, air mattress, pulse oxymeter, oxygen cylinder, suction machine, etc.

Cost

The cost depends on the kind of services. Something as simple as wound dressing or injection, could cost Rs 500, while setting up an ICU at home could cost about Rs 20,000 per day. But, the same thing in a hospital could cost about Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh per day, says Srivastava.

Care24 charges Rs 700-800 per day for elder care, Rs 1,400-1,500 per day for nursing for post-operative care, Rs 600-700 per day for chronic pain management and Rs 2,000 per day for infant care.

Portea charges Rs 700-1000 for doctor visit, Rs 400-600 for physiotherapy, Rs 1,100 onwards for 12 hours per day for long term nursing, Rs 16,500 per month for 12 hours and Rs 35,000 per month for 24 hours for nursing attendant. The cost varies depending on the city. For preventive care, doctor visits and lab tests- the annual cost is Rs 12,000-25,000, while for elder care the monthly cost is Rs 20,000-40,000.

Competing with hospitals

While some hospitals do provide health care services at home, these are limited and would be available only in the vicinity of the hospital. Also, a doctor from one branded hospital brand would not like to recommend his patient to a home care service of another branded hospital, due to fear of losing the patient to that hospital. That is why a neutral player is essential to provide such services, says Srivastava.

Since hospitals have limited staff, it is not possible for them to provide home services on a long-term basis, says Pathak.

Insurance

In India, there is no insurance coverage available only for home health care services. It would be covered if your policy offers cover for Out Patient treatment or post-operative care, says Sanjay Datta, chief – underwriting & claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance. “It will cover not just medicines, but also doctor visits, physiotherapy, services of nurses or attendants if it is prescribed by the doctor and required medically,” he says. Insurance companies would prefer more Out Patient treatment to take place in patients’ houses, adds Datta. The patient is comfortable, cross-infection risk is lower and costs too would be lower because there is not need to book a hospital bed for minor procedures. Besides, with more organised players entering this segment, insurers would be more comfortable to offer insurance coverage for such services.

What are your thoughts?

Do you think that Intensive Home Care for long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies can save precious resources in Intensive Care and improve the quality of life for Patients and their families?

Leave your comments on the blog.

For more information and how we can help your long-term ventilated adults& children with tracheostomies,  you can contact me on 041 094 2230 or email [email protected]

We are also currently hiring enthusiastic and experienced Intensive Care nurses with Critical Care certificate for Clients in Melbourne.

We would also like to hear from you if you have a minimum of 2 years Paediatric ICU experience, as we have opportunities here as well!

For more information check out our Career section here www.intensivecareathome.com.au/careers or contact Patrik on 041 094 2230 or simply hit reply to this email.

You can also contact me on 041 094 2230 if you want to know more about how we can help you, your Intensive Care Unit and your Patients and Families.

We are also a DVA(Department of Veteran affairs) approved community service provider

Thank you for tuning into this week’s blog.

This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME and I see you again next week in another update!