Solution Integration Framework
Challenges:
Improving Emotional Health of Seniors - Seniors’ isolation and depression is a serious issue resulting in significant in- and outpatient costs. Most health payers and providers typically use expensive Behavioral Health services to address this issue and have no cost-effective program alternative.
New Rating System Rules under Health Care Reform - Under new Medicare rules, Star Rating system will be used for the first time to award bonuses potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the best plans. If the bonuses had been in effect last year, the top-rated plans would have received a total of $1.3 billion.1 This suggests health plans urgently find ways to cultivate positive customer relationship.
Hospital Readmission - Senior hospital readmission rate is a pain point for payers and providers. The new Affordable Care Act fuels the sense of urgency for hospitals to improve readmission rates. Studies have shown that social support is an important part of a care transition program. The importance of Patients and Caregivers activation is well recognized by practitioners, yet this is an area that has not been served by any effective technology solutions yet.
Outreach to the New “Marketing Most Wanted” – Family Caregivers - Payers and Providers are seeking ways to reach out to family caregivers. Based on our Phase I ethnographic study, we know that reaching out to Family Caregivers can be extremely tricky. A typical caregiver is most often under emotional and even physical distress. They have little bandwidth for marketing outreach. Reaching Family Caregivers often means reaching out to the family and community around them, which presents a challenge for designing an engagement program.
Revenue Expansion for Home Care Agencies - Agencies are also looking for ways to add value to their home care services offering by keeping remote families apprised of the seniors and by offering home care services for seniors freshly discharged from hospitals.
Home Health Technologies - User Experience Challenge - Home health technology adoption has been a challenge to date. Telehealth vendors thus far are very clinically focused and have ignored social and psychological aspects of technology adoption.
Emota Value Propositions:
- Emota reduces senior isolation and related health risks.
- Emota’s WELLn Care Transition Solution helps hospitals prepare for the new requirements and payment penalties regarding reducing senior hospital readmission imposed by Health Care Reform Affordable Care Act (ACT)
- Emota has a unique offering that enables payers and providers to emotionally connect with Family Caregivers. Our Living Greeting Card concept helps solve the marketing problem of reaching out not only to Family Caregivers but the larger circle around them. The Emota user interaction model provides an ongoing brand presence and platform beyond one-time marketing campaigns.
- Emota helps health payers/providers proactively collaborate with family caregivers and community to effect better outcome for patients with chronic conditions.
- To elder care providers, Emota enables new revenue opportunities for consumer paid concierge service such as medication consultation and check-in services. Using Emota, home care workers can keep remote families informed of the senior's status and well-being. Emota's WELLn can also unite Home Care Services with hospital’s care transition program workflow, creating partnership opportunities between Home Care agencies and health providers.
- To payers, empowered patients and families translate directly to less utilization of high cost resources such as hospitals and ERs.
- While telehealth vendors primarily focus on clinical tools, instrumentation and protocols, Emota can become a partner-of-choice to bring a pleasurable user interface, social connectivity and meaning to the user experience.