After a highly successful LeadingAge Annual Meeting & EXPO, this month we are sharing key technology takeaways with you. We’re also releasing the 16th Annual LeadingAge Ziegler 200 report and a new Health Information Exchange Technology Selection Tool from CAST. In this Tech Time issue, you’ll learn how to improve resident safety with technology and discover a new free essential health information app. You’ll learn about a bipartisan bill to expand telehealth and see the latest CAST member news. Let’s get started!
LZ 200 Finds High Adoption of Safety Monitoring Tech and Electronic Documentation
The 16th Annual LeadingAge Ziegler 200 (LZ 200) report has been released. It found that the nation’s 200 largest, most complex not-for-profit senior living organizations are adopting two types of technologies the most: safety monitoring tech and electronic documentation.
The LZ 200 also measured social connectedness tech for the first time; nearly half of survey participants use these technologies. We found that medication management technologies are also playing an important role, and telehealth use is expected to rise. See the LZ 200 summary results.
CAST Releases HIE Technology Selection Tool
LeadingAge CAST has released a Health Information Exchange (HIE) Technology Selection Tool, the newest CAST tool in a series of eight. The tool includes a white paper, an interactive guide, a selection tool and matrix of existing HIEs, and three provider case studies. These elements can help you choose the HIE tool that best fits your requirements.
CAST partnered with the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC) to create the HIE tool. See an overview of the new HIE tool.
If you are working with an HIE that is not listed, please share their contact information with Scott Code, associate director of CAST.
6 Tech Takeaways from the Annual Meeting
Tech trends, innovations, and more were on full display at the LeadingAge Annual Meeting & EXPO, held Oct. 27-30, 2019, in San Diego, CA. Be sure to review these key tech themes from the meeting, including cybersecurity, infrastructure, advance planning, staff retention, and engaging and advising residents on their tech journey.
Smart Speakers: Security and Implementation
One session at the annual meeting focused on the smart speakers and other voice-controlled devices. Learn about these devices’ pros and cons—and how to implement smart speakers securely.
How to Improve Resident Safety with Technology
If you are looking to improve your residents’ safety and security, check out advice from CAST and its members, who were quoted in a recent article in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. Remember to use the CAST Safety Technology Selection Tool, which helps you choose the right solution for your organization.
Free Essential Health Information App
Please check out a free HealthEI App from The Good Health Group. The app offers a simple way to make essential health information accessible in an emergency, where someone is incapacitated and unable to communicate, and for more general uses such as daily security.
Your residents can create a personalized QR code containing only the information they choose to share in an emergency–which may include medical conditions, allergies, or medications. They can save the QR code on their phone lock screen and personalize it with their favorite photos, or they can print it on stickers for a wallet, handbag, bike helmet, or clothing. In an emergency, when someone scans the phone lock screen, the essential health information displays. This information may allow someone to help or to call the resident’s emergency contact.
Senators Introduce Bill to Expand Telehealth
With telehealth poised to grow in the coming years, six United States Senators have introduced a bipartisan bill that would that would expand telehealth services through Medicare. Learn about the CONNECT for Health Act of 2019, which would also improve health outcomes, make it easier for patients to connect with their doctors, and help cut costs for patients and providers. LeadingAge and CAST are two of 120 organizations supporting the bill.
CAST Member News
Congratulations are in order to this month’s CAST members in the news, as they boost interoperability, innovate and collaborate, unveil new initiatives, make new hires, and share their expertise with reporters.
Feel Free to Contact Me
If you have news to share with CAST or if I can be of assistance in any way, please don’t
hesitate to contact me.