WASHINGTON (Oct. 3, 2018) — Urgent Matters and the Gary and Mary West Health Institute are pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award, a competition to foster innovation in emergency departments nationwide.
The Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award provides an opportunity for multidisciplinary teams to be acknowledged for cutting-edge innovations in emergency care. The award, now in its sixth year, provides a platform for sharing effective solutions that address common issues facing the emergency care community.
Innovations, or tools, were reviewed by a committee comprised of representatives from Urgent Matters and the Urgent Matters Editorial Board. The top-rated tools were assessed based on their novelty, exportability, effectiveness, clarity, and on their ability to be used by a multi-disciplinary health care team.
Congratulations to Timothy Peck from Call9, for their innovation “The Tech-enabled Emergency & Acute Medicine at the Skilled Nursing Facility Bedside (TEAM SNF) Model of Care” being selected as the winner of the 2018 Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award.
Designing new approaches to acute unscheduled care that avoid subjecting patients to the risks of ED visits and admissions is critical for the well-being of frail, older adults and the sustainability of our healthcare system. Call9 has created a tech-enabled, human-powered solution that delivers immediate emergency care to patients in skilled nursing facilities at the bedside, which reduces unnecessary ED visits, hospitalizations and subsequent readmissions in nearly 80 percent of patient encounters.
Honorable mentions include:
- Behavioral Health Collaborative in the Emergency Department – Adventist Health and Rideout Health
- Recognizing the impact of patients placed on involuntary psychiatric holds that are being sent to the emergency department, Adventist Health and Rideout Health designed a new, innovative way to care for behavioral health patients. The goal was to deliver the highest quality care for psychiatric patients while waiting in the emergency department. Realizing the county would be closing their involuntary psychiatric services, Rideout Health worked collaboratively with their county and agreed to embed county paid crisis counselors in the emergency department 24 hours a day. Through the use of tele-psychiatry services and clear clinical pathways the team work together to see 100 percent of patients with a behavioral health diagnosis. Medications were either started or resumed, safety plans were designed, and follow up appointments arranged by the team.
- Senior Emergency Center: Improving Quality of Life with a KSS*- Atrium Medical Center
- Health care is at a crucial crossroads with the influx of baby boomers entering into health systems that are challenged by costs, readmissions, length of stay, safety, core measures, lack of primary care providers, and resource availability. Being able to address the unmet needs of a fragile patient population not only improves the quality of life for seniors, but also reduces the strain placed on health care by repeated admissions and limited resources. The KSS* Program at Atrium Medical Centers' Senior Emergency Center examines patients’ ability to remain safe and pay bills, have access to medications and care, receive transportation to doctor visits, get proper medication education, and addresses many other needs of this generation. Personal follow up phone calls for well-being checks after discharge are made to assist with doctor appointments, questions, home health, and equipment needs. Success is tracked by various factors such as increased volume, reduced readmissions, number and type of interventions provided, patient satisfaction, follow up phone calls made, screenings completed, residential care collaboration, and quality improvement. This is over seen by a medical director who holds a patent in "Senior Care Process."
All submitted tools that met entry criteria will be posted to the Urgent Matters online searchable toolkit, a collection of strategies and tools developed by hospitals across the country to target specific issues facing hospital emergency departments. The toolkit is available.
