VERO BEACH, Fla. – (July 20, 2010) – With help from a $100,000 grant from the Ohio-based William Bingham Foundation, the Visiting Nurse Association of the Treasure Coast has launched a state-of-the-art medical/clinical documentation system that will help keep the community’s oldest home healthcare provider on the cutting edge of technology.
From the patient’s home, to the VNA headquarters, even to a doctor’s desktop – vital medical information goes where it needs to go in the blink of an eye.
More than 300 Visiting Nurse Association nurses and therapists have begun using high tech, hand-held devices, part of a new system that lets them capture and process more patient information quicker than ever, improving patient care and increasing efficiency. Clinicians enter patient information, supply orders, medication needs, and other observations while they are at the patient’s home.
“Having been in Vero Beach for a number of years and involved with many non-profit organizations, I am very pleased to be able to support the VNA & Hospice Foundation through the William Bingham Foundation,” said Ginny Blossom Kruntorad, trustee of the William Bingham Foundation. “It is not only a worthwhile organization for our community, but part of a critical network of care nationwide. We are fortunate to have such a strong program here on the Treasure Coast.”
The grant will help fund the VNA’s new, real time, medical information computer system that streamlines every facet of the agency’s home healthcare mission, explained Ann Marie McCrystal, Chairman of the Board of the VNA.
“The William Bingham Foundation’s grant is not only exceedingly generous,” McCrystal said, “it also sends a strong signal that this well-known family foundation believes in the VNA’s ability to deliver the highest standard of home healthcare to our residents and do it with the latest, most efficient equipment.”
“We have grown from humble beginnings into the organization we are today,” she said of the thirty-five-year-old agency, “because of the hard work of our associates and volunteers; because our patients and doctors trust us and because the people of the community have always supported us.”
The grant was given to help offset the cost of acquisition, installation, implementation, and staff training for Homecare-Homebase, a web-based, computerized medical information system.
Medical information systems are critical to providing quality care in the home. They allow clinicians to document a patient’s health status, care provided, and outcomes achieved based on our care. Homecare-Homebase is designed to cut down on time-consuming paperwork, allow nurses and therapists to see more patients per day, while at the same time spending more “quality time” with the patient -- a benefit made possible by the more streamlined electronic system.
The VNA is the fifth largest private employer in Indian River County. It is the only Medicare certified non-profit home healthcare provider that ensures everyone receives the home healthcare they need regardless of their ability to pay. The agency’s 500 associates deliver home healthcare and hospice services to more than 4,100 patients a year, making nearly 66,000 home health and hospice visits. The VNA’s community flu and pneumonia vaccination program, blood pressure and blood sugar screening services and the mobile wellness unit together touch the lives of another 20,000 people each year. The agency is also the only licensed hospice provider in Indian River County, offering end-of-life care in patients’ homes, local hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities, and the VNA Hospice House. Homecare-Homebase will improve the VNA’s ability to serve all of its patients and clients.
The new system meets the latest federal and industry standards for health information technology and provides the VNA with the first ever seamless flow of information between the medical and business elements of the VNA’s mission. As the system grows, physicians and other medical providers will have direct access to better track their patients’ progress.
