It looks like a flat screen TV, but the patient education system in the new hospital will be so much more. At the touch of a button, patients will be able to:

• Call a nurse
• View videos about their health conditions
• Order a meal
• Adjust the lighting and the temperature

“The idea of the LodgeNet System is to help the patient be a full participant in their care,” said Vicki Stogsdill, vice president of nursing services.

INTRODUCING LODGENET

LodgeNet is a computerized education and entertainment system that is used in hotels and healthcare facilities across the country.

Educational

One of the features the clinical staff is most excited about is the educational video service. Patients will be able to watch videos about their surgery or illness. And their clinicians will be able to tell whether patients have done their homework.

Customizable

The system will be customized according to patient needs. For example, heart patients would have a menu of videos that would be completely different from those available to new moms. The system can be tailored so that children in pediatrics will have a more child-friendly look than the system in the other patient rooms.

Relaxation

Relaxation videos have been very popular in other hospitals. They provide background noise that makes patients comfortable but doesn’t distract from conversations with their visitors. Spiritual messages are another patient favorite.

PUTTING THE PATIENT IN CONTROL

Many features will be available the first day the hospital opens. Others will be added later.

Information, Communication at Your Fingerprints

“LodgeNet has a varied functionality that will benefit patients,” said Stogsdill. “Education, entertainment and environmental controls can be ordered up by the patient. The clinicians can choose assignments for the patient based on that patients specific educational needs.”

There will be informational videos about general health, such as immunizations and exercise. The patient will have direct communication with pastoral care, maintenance and other departments. They will have many entertainment options, movies and their favorite television shows.

More Comfortable Environment

And, that makes the patient feel more at home, another positive for their healing, said Joni Sims, director of medical surgical services. When you’re at home you can decide what you what the watch, when you want to eat and the temperature of your room. The LodgeNet system puts them in control of those choices and much more.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Sims said. “It’s going to be so beneficial for our patients.”

Source: Owensboro Health

By Gary Kolbeck

Improving the quality of patient care and curbing healthcare costs are among the key
priorities of four health reform initiatives that will radically change the way hospitals treat and interact with patients, as well as the way they are reimbursed by Medicare.

Over the next five years, these programs – meaningful use of health information technology, creation of accountable care organizations (ACOs), implementation of
value-based purchasing, and reduction of avoidable hospital readmissions – will require
organizations to transform patients from passive recipients to engaged participants.
Healthcare providers must explore effective and affordable options for providing patients and their families with the information and tools they need to make better informed decisions and to become active in managing their health.

To comply with the requirements of health reform regulations and remain competitive as the U.S. health system undergoes fundamental change, hospitals must not only engage patients but also enhance patient satisfaction scores and the overall patient experience. A byproduct of effective patient engagement, patient satisfaction scores will play an even greater role in determining hospital revenue when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) begins using them to calculate Medicare reimbursements under the government’s value-based purchasing program.

As several deadlines for health reform initiatives draw near, many hospitals are implementing interactive patient engagement solutions in order to help patients manage their health. Technology advancements facilitate communications with patients beyond hospital walls, following them through the entire continuum of care.

Prior to admission, hospitals can prepare patients for a procedure or a hospital stay
by providing relevant information, videos and reminders via their mobile device, home computer or Web-enabled TV.

During hospitalization, patients can use interactive television systems for in-room
viewing of educational videos that have been assigned to them based on their
individual care needs, age, preferred language and health literacy level. In addition, these systems can provide access to information about an individual’s care team, condition, treatment, procedures, medications, daily schedule and discharge instructions. Patients can also order meals and control their in-room temperature or lighting, thereby promoting patient safety and preventing falls.

Robust systems can track inpatient viewership, measure patient comprehension through a series of interactive questions on the TV, generate follow-up prompts and help care providers identify when additional patient counseling and intervention are
necessary. All of this information can be automatically documented in the patient’s
EHR or viewed as a dashboard.

Following discharge, interactive solutions allow providers to deliver prescribed information for recovery and rehabilitation, appointment reminders, support group recommendations and medication information via mobile devices, computers or Web-enabled TVs. These solutions accommodate a variety of communication devices, enabling providers to reach people who reside in medically underserved areas or lack access to PCs, positioning organizations to address health disparity and access to care issues.

A 2008 report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that the single biggest predictor of a patient’s effective use of technology-based educational tools was the patient’s perception that the content was relevant and useful to his or her individual care. The finding underscores the fact that delivering meaningful content to individuals, in easy-to-understand language, at the right time, and through a technology they are comfortable with, is critical to an effective patient engagement strategy. People who have a good inpatient experience are far more likely to be receptive and act on the
information they receive from a hospital when they are home because they understand their participation is key to achieving better outcomes.

Today, of course, many hospitals already try to educate patients. However, new government regulations will require them to go to greater lengths to ensure information is not only delivered, but also understood in a way that positively impacts outcomes. Patient education, engagement and satisfaction have become business imperatives that cannot be ignored.

As the government reshapes care delivery, and as reimbursement is increasingly linked to quality and performance metrics such as readmissions and patient satisfaction, hospital finances will be closely tied to how well informed patients are – and how involved they are in their care. Progressive institutions that understand how technology can improve inpatient quality care, that generate actionable data to support follow-up care and maintain post-discharge patient engagement and involvement in their care, and that increase specific patient understanding of health issues, will be well-equipped
to respond to market trends, grow revenue, gain a competitive advantage and increase patient loyalty in an evolving and challenging healthcare business  environment.