Care coordination software gets nod from assisted living organization

The Caremerge solution not only provides assisted living facilities with in-depth care coordination and information sharing, but also enables these organizations to operate under the new standards of care identified by managed care organizations (MCOs) under the Affordable Care Act.

Under these new guidelines, all senior living facilities—including assisted living facilities—must account for the quality of care they provide proactively in order to be reimbursed. Such care can include monitoring a resident's health to taking preventative measures such as offering immunizations and regular check-ups.

"Like other providers, we have always been trying to find an EHR to fit into the assisted living workflows," Ruta Prasauskas, RN, director of clinical services at BMA. "Traditional skilled nursing EHRs are too complicated (due to code based reimbursements) and do not fit into our model easily. Caremerge’s Care Coordination Platform is a perfect solution for assisted living industry. It helps meet our needs today and is built for the future to share resident information with outside stakeholders, which will help in developing stronger partnerships with MCOs and ACOs. 

Better data capture and exchange capabilities also will help the organization prove its worth to MCOs, Prasauskas adds. "This will also demonstrate that our services result in better outcomes and that we are a much cheaper alternative to higher acuity patients than a skilled nursing facility. Most importantly, this will allow us to provide a higher quality of life for our residents, and also allow us to scale our operations."