Home Health Provider, Vonage Partner For ‘Connected Health’

New Jersey’s largest non-profit home health provider has partnered with cloud communications provider Vonage (NYSE:VG) to boost its connected health initiatives and perfect its technology utilization.

Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) Health Group plans to move its headquarters to the Vonage Technology Center of Excellence, based in Holmdel, New Jersey, as well as work with the company to develop a connected health advisory board.

“We have been trying to modernize our headquarters for a while now and Vonage’s campus is better resourced for modern workflows and use of mobile and digital technology,” Steven Landers, MD, MPH, president and CEO at VNA Health Group, told Home Health Care News. “When we learned about the potential to relocate to the Vonage campus, it was very compelling.”

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It also doesn’t hurt that the Vonage campus is located in the same county as VNA’s current office.

VNA provides home care services to more than 120,000 people throughout the New Jersey area.

The partnership will grow in many directions come 2017, but one main project that VNA will collaborate with Vonage on from the get-go is the development of a connected health advisory board. VNA supports the connected health program, which is a national health initiative that supports patients with telehealth, virtual visits and access to digital health apps.

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The connected health advisory board will be made up of volunteer board members to help VNA refine and improve its connected health programs, Landers explained.

VNA has long been an advocate for becoming a “next-generation” home health agency and will continue to integrate new technologies into its organization.

Other areas within the VNA’s connect health initiative that it hopes to tackle with the help and consultation from Vonage in the coming year includes the integration of video care as an integral part of on-call home health services as well as some behind the scenes work on tech projects like the development of a patient and caregiver app.

“I’m eager to work with Vonage to see if there’s some ways we can further integrate video care that is not just a pilot, but as part of our usual on-call services,” Landers said. “We are also in the planning phase for a patient and caregiver app and portal that allows both sides to be continuously connected to us.”

In addition to tapping into Vonage as a consultant to further VNA’s mission, VNA will be implementing Vonage’s business communication technology throughout the organization.

“We looked at a number of different platforms and providers and feel confident in what Vonage has to offer. We also thought in terms of benefit to our employees and the local economy,” Landers added. “Vonage understands our mission. Their families and neighbors are using our services and that’s a really special connection in addition to its other qualifications.”

VNA and nearly 200 of its employees will begin the relocation to the Vonage campus in the first quarter of 2017.

Written by Alana Stramowski

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