Connected home health 

 
Making a positive human impact
on care anywhere
Healthcare leaders explore the
challenges, opportunities and
tech accelerators to delivering
connected care in the home
Making a positive human impact on care anywhere

Who doesn’t believe care in the home will continue to

shape the future of healthcare?

What healthcare Top challenges, opportunities and tech accelerators

leaders think 5 key takeaways from healthcare leaders about

about tech connected care

Staffing shortages cause shift to less Artificial intelligence will enhance care insights
enabled care traditional care settings. Care at home may from home. Artificial intelligence has a key

in the home re-emerge as a higher priority to help offset

staffing shortages and limited resource
role yet to be fully developed when it comes
to care at home, particularly in the area of
capacity in more traditional care settings such predictive analytics.
Why do industry professionals think as hospitals.
care in the home will continue to shape Education for patients and caregivers should
the future of healthcare? Access to care in the home is important for be factored into home monitoring. Family
patient health. The use of telehealth and members often play a major role in caring for
We asked 11 information and tech connected tools help patients engage with their loved ones. But they are being asked to
executives during a healthcare doctors and receive care needed to remain do increasingly complex medical tasks with
roundtable to identify key challenges, healthy. little or no training.
opportunities and tech accelerators that
will enable connected care in the home. Chronic care and associated costs are prime
Perspectives shared represent hospitals, motivators for care at home. The management
health systems, medical academic of chronic conditions at home will increasingly
institutions and medical groups be in demand to help lower costs and improve
outcomes
Making a positive human impact on care anywhere

Takeaway #1: Staffing shortages

increase use of less traditional
care settings

Roundtable executives all have experienced workforce shortages. Many healthcare workers are
reducing hours, leaving the field, or taking contract jobs, further depleting the workforce, and
increasing the stressors on remaining employees.

“We’re viewing alternative care sites as more of a decompression strategy. With up to a 95% inpatient
occupancy at times, this is one way to help alleviate some of the pressure.” Audrius Polikaitis, CIO and In a survey of leaders from
Assistant Vice President, University of Illinois, Hospital and Health Sciences System.
100 large and private sector
Lack of hospital beds and staffing shortages continue to be felt worldwide. The National Health hospitals, nearly half of
Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom reported earlier in 2022 the lowest level of vacant beds. Building
more capacity is no longer economically feasible. It is estimated to cost between $1 million and $3 respondents had to reduce
million to build a new inpatient bed. inpatient capacity due to
All roundtable participants agreed that while technology and workforce innovations may provide nursing shortages.
short-term relief, a diminished workforce signals a future where patients will likely receive care in less
traditional care settings including the home.
Making a positive human impact on care anywhere

What is connected care at home?

Several roundtable
participants asked how 50% of healthcare tech leaders
surveyed cited the monitoring of
connected care is defined to chronic conditions and intensive care
help frame the discussion. following inpatient discharge as the
Connected care is defined greatest benefit for care in the home.

as healthcare that is
personalized and accessible
through technology (from
home rather than a hospital
or the doctor's office)

According to an Avanade Digital 57% of healthcare tech leaders

Health Outlook Report conducted in surveyed identified use of intelligent
2022 by Information Age, connected devices and telehealth as most
care at home will continue to have important tech accelerators for
a place in healthcare; intelligent remote patient monitoring in
devices and telehealth are key the home
accelerators for remote patient
monitoring in the home.
Making a positive human impact on care anywhere

Takeaway #2: Access to care

at home is important for
patient health

Compared with usual

Access to care at home has benefited from the increased adoption of telehealth and most roundtable (hospital) care patients,
participants believe this will continue particularly for people who might have limited access to much home patients had fewer…
needed health services.

According to one CIO at the roundtable, typically, seniors particularly those who are perhaps isolated, Laboratory orders (median
or have disabilities may struggle to come in for a doctor’s visit. per admission, 3 vs. 15)
These patients sometimes only come in two times a year and often miss appointments. With virtual
care options from home, providers can be looking at anywhere between fifteen to twenty encounters Imaging studies (median,
per year, using a combination of in person at home and telehealth capabilities. 14% vs. 44%)
Participants also agreed that an assessment of digital tech maturity in the home including Internet
access is an important determinant for adoption. A combination of remote monitoring, telehealth, Consultations (median,
social supports, and home modification can enable more patients to receive some level of care 2% vs. 31%)
at home.

Lower frequency of
readmissions within 30 days of
discharge (7% vs. 23%)
Making a positive human impact on care anywhere

Client Story:
Hospital maximizing “In the Home” concept

Mater Hospital, an iconic Solution

provider of hospital-based Avanade is enabling tracking of COVID-19 patients (post-diagnosis or short-listed as a potential
risk) through an app developed with PowerApps and using Power Automate for integration
healthcare in Australia, with hospital systems. Since the Mater had on-premise APIs, we are using Azure API Management,
was dealing with a Azure Functions and VPN from Azure to on-premise.
significant influx of work in Results
support of the COVID-19 Better patient outcomes
outbreak. They needed to The application enables the hospital to track the patient both at home, under self-quarantine or at
the hospital, create a patient care and action plan and generate documents for recovered patient
improve their capability discharge activities. This is maximizing the Hospital's "In The Home" concept.
and efficiency in the
Mater is once again looking at its overall digital transformation and is much further ahead than it
management of patient and would have been without our engagement. By setting the right foundations, this solution supports the
care processes including pandemic crisis and will help Mater on its journey to digitize more processes within the hospital and
patient registration through expand the level of homecare it can offer its patients.

to tracking patient health -----------------------------------------------------------------

and reporting. Learn more.
Funding from Bupa, an international health insurance and healthcare group, will help fast track
access to technologies to enable patients from Mater’s 11 hospitals across metropolitan and
regional Queensland to receive hospital style care and monitoring from the comfort of their own
home.
Making a positive human impact on care anywhere

Takeaway #3: Chronic care

and associated costs prime
motivators for care at home

The remote monitoring of patients with acute conditions is seen by several participants as a prime Johns Hopkins research
consideration for care in the home. Conditions identified cover a broad range from asthma and
congestive heart failure to pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
indicates there is up to
a 30% cost saving in
“Our approach for care at home involves remote patient monitoring particularly for patients enrolled in delivering care to patients’
our chronic disease clinics. If a patient doesn’t have many comorbidities and feels their at-home support
structure strong, for example, you can monitor their health at home for something singular and specific homes when compared to
without as many variables to consider," said Tressa Springmann, Life Bridge Health, SVP and Chief traditional hospitalizations.
Information and Digital Officer.

When it comes to remote monitoring another area identified during the roundtable is for patients after
chemotherapy. Studies have shown a higher risk of hospital readmissions for patients who have gone
through or are undergoing chemotherapy when not closely monitored.
Making a positive human impact on care anywhere

5 key takeaways continued

#4 Artificial intelligence will enhance #5 Education for patients and Most states in the US have
care insights from home caregivers should be factored into enacted the Caregiver
Several roundtable executives pointed out the evolution of home monitoring Advise, Record, and Enable
virtual care solutions include the use artificial intelligence (CARAR -7.5%E) Act that
(AI). In technology-enabled hospital-at-home programs, While clinical solutions are often designed for trained
professionals, care at home expands the need to provide requires hospitals to
health systems can use AI-guided platforms to track vital
signs, on-demand (24/7) care, and interpret data gathered patients and caregivers education and training. This is identify and train family
particularly true for seniors with declining mobility, eyesight
through wearables.
and cognitive abilities.
caregivers
One participant shared how AI can help create models that
look across many factors particularly for patients who have All healthcare participants during the session agreed it is
different demographics, lab values, medication regimens, vitally important to teach not only the patient how to care
along with different reported symptoms. for themselves but also their caregiver(s). This includes
teaching patients and caregivers, often family members, to
A physician can use AI to analyze multiple data sets and use existing clinical devices.
provide predictive care insights for patients at home. This
can save physicians from digging through unreasonable Designing solutions that are easy for patients and caregivers
amounts of information and time added to their to use will most likely result in lower risk and more accurate
day-to-day workload. reporting back to healthcare providers
Making a positive human impact on care anywhere

Interested in pursuing
connected care at home?
Care 24/7 digital health solutions support connected patient experiences, access/availability of care
and care team coordination. Our Connected Home Health platform and service array enables an
efficient, highly coordinated, holistic care experience in the home.

Why Avanade in health?

Avanade in health has a global practice of over 1,000 technical, functional, and organizational change
professionals, supported by Accenture and Avanade health strategists and consultants. Our mission is
to couple our unmatched Microsoft ecosystem capabilities with industry knowledge to accelerate and
scale data-driven solutions that power interoperability, increase security and deliver the greatest value
through the power of the Microsoft industry cloud, customized for you by Avanade.

More about this report

The healthcare tech roundtable was held in 2022 with members of the
College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME).
Making a positive human impact on care anywhere

Reduce barriers to care with

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