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Communication is a key ingredi­ent in effective family collabo­ration in long term care, says Neil Moore, founder and chief execu­tive officer of Connect 4 Healthcare. He learned this the hard way when he had difficulty staying in touch with staff at a memory care facility where his father-in-law was living several years ago. Moore launched the company in response to enduring this challenge.

The service, which is offered to fam­ily members through skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, is a Web-based program that uses the Internet, e-mail, and text messaging to create and maintain communication between families and providers.

Mary Hanke, life enrichment direc­tor at Seabrook Assisted Living in Everett, Wash., an Emeritus Senior Living Community, uses the service to send monthly updates to some 58 family members. “Families have busy lives,” she says, “and this helps us keep in contact with them.”

Hanke, who describes the program as very user-friendly, says that it has been highly successful in her facility.

One feature of the program that Hanke finds most beneficial is that family members who receive an initial message from Seabrook are able to add as many family members as they want to the service. “It’s just so easy to use,” she says.

Families Choose Update Format  

Created specifically for residents in skilled nursing, assisted living, and rehabilitation facilities, as well as home and hospice care, the service enables the provider and the family to select the type of wellness updates, such as eating, sleeping, taking medication, and physical therapy, that family members would like to receive on a regular basis.

Amy Yount, as­sisted living director at the Johnson Center, a Christian Living Community, in Centennial, Colo., touts the service’s ability to maintain communication with families in an efficient manner. “It opens up communication for our nurse assistants and family members,” says Yount, who notes that frontline staff members send updates weekly to family members. Feedback from fami­lies about the service has been positive as well, Yount says.

Moore says the family benefits by staying better informed and more connected, while their loved ones benefit because they are better in­formed and more engaged.

—Meg LaPorte, Managing Editor - Provider Magazine - November, 2010

Provider is the monthly magazine of long-term and post-acute care professionals, covering the nursing home, rehabilitation, and assisted living industries. http://www.providermagazine.com

from: Family Engagement - A systems approach to working with family members can improve resident care and boost customer satisfaction.

Jeannette Gerzon, EdD, SPHR, based in Belmont, Mass., is an organization development consultant, trainer, and licensed psychologist. She can be reached at jgerzon1@verizon.net.

Across all aspects of senior care, improving communication between providers and families is the key to delivering better care, minimizing risk, and maximizing survey results. Connect for Healthcare has created a unique service to help providers do just that.

The idea began when Neil Moore’s own father-in law was in a nursing home. He was constantly frustrated with the difficult process of seeking updates on how his father-in-law was doing.

In some cases the staff just didn’t have enough time for a real discussion.  Other times, his calls were not returned at all.  At the end of the day, Moore and his family were left with a void of information about his wife’s father, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. “It didn’t make sense that we weren’t being proactively updated on his status,” Moore said.

While countless families have faced the same aggravations, Moore was inspired by his experience.  He decided to use his own extensive background in health information technology to create a solution.

Connect for Healthcare™ gives providers a simple, one-step method to communicate with families.

Subsequently, Moore launched Connect for Healthcare.  Connect for Healthcare offers an inexpensive, easy-to-use, subscription-based web service that uses everyday technologies – the Internet, e-mail and text messaging – to create and maintain a new and vital link between providers and families with loved ones in long-term care.

Status updates can be sent to an unlimited number of contacts, to ensure that everyone involved is informed and connected.  In as little as 2 minutes a week, providers can give each family the information they need to know – securely and regularly, without them having to ask, no matter where they might be.  Updates can include up to 10 “wellness metrics” (eating, sleeping, taking medication, physical therapy, etc.) which can be customized to reflect specific questions or concerns about a patient. It also creates a documented record of family communication.

The company offers its service to a range of health providers, including Skilled Nursing, Assisted Living, Rehab, Home and Hospice Care companies.

For more information about The National Senior Living Providers Network (NSLPN), visit their website: http://nslpn.com.

Connect for Healthcare (www.connect4healthcare.com) is a great resource for families and caregivers alike.  Connect for Healthcare was founded by Neil Moore, who was looking for solutions to the difficult task of staying up to date on the well being of loved ones.  Instead of just looking for solutions, he decided to create one - called Connect for Healthcare.

MedCity News

8.18.10 | Brandon Glenn | Columbus, Ohio

Neil Moore found himself repeatedly frustrated when he tried to call for updates on how his father-in-law was doing while in a nursing home.

Either calls would go unreturned, or staffers didn’t have enough time to talk, leaving Moore and his family in the dark about his father-in-law, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. “It didn’t make sense that we weren’t being proactively updated on his status,” Moore said.

Unlike many others who’ve faced the same annoyance, Moore — a 20-year veteran in the field of health information technology, including a stint with Becton, Dickinson and Co. — was in the position to do something about it.

About two years ago, Moore started Connect for Healthcare, a company aimed at solving the communication problems he experienced with the nursing home. The company’s subscription-based service allows for status updates via e-mail, text message or the Web to an unlimited number of family members or friends. The updates feature “wellness metrics” (Is Mom eating? Sleeping? Walking?) that can be customized to reflect specific questions or concerns of family members.

The company sells its service to a range of health providers, including nursing homes, home health companies, rehabilitation centers and hospices.

Connect for Healthcare, which has three full-time employees, has enjoyed some early success, but its biggest break could be just around the corner. Moore won’t say how many providers are customers, though he did specify that the company has clients in six states. But two recent deals could pave the way for bigger things.

First, the company recently completed an integration of its service with Resource Systems, an Ohio-based firm that develops clinical documentation software called CareTracker for long-term care providers. Not only does the integration give Connect for Healthcare access to 2,500 potential new customers that use CareTracker, it automates status updates based on the values of CareTracker’s clinical data. “That’s a huge deal for us and a great opportunity for CareTracker clients,” Moore said.

Larry Triplett, president of Resource Systems, said he’s been approached a couple of times in the past decade by companies that developed software similar to Connect for Healthcare but whose offerings were “too clinical and too quantitative.” Ease-of-use for both providers and families is what sets Moore’s software apart, Triplett said.

“The simplicity of it is what’s helping him get some traction,” Triplett said.

Second, Connect for Healthcare about a month ago began a pilot program with “one of the largest assisted-living providers in the U.S.,” which Moore declined to identify. If the provider likes what it sees, it could begin rolling out Connect for Healthcare’s service to its “hundreds” of facilities across the country.

Moore hopes to land $500,000 in investment funding that the company would use to build its sales and marketing team. The company recently qualified for a state tax credit aimed at making technology start-ups in Ohio more attractive to investors, so that, also, should lift its prospects.

But if the pilot program with the major provider is a success, that may be all the help Connect for Healthcare needs to get investment dollars flowing its way.

The culmination of the Boomer Venture Summit will be the seventh annual Boomer Business Plan Competition. Since 2004, this competition has fostered a cutting-edge forum to explore, share and design the products and services that will dominate the growing boomer marketplace. Contestants will meet investors and partners, secure resources and get media exposure that can help turn dreams into realities.