Homecare Homebase Launches ‘Exchange’ Tool; Cerner, ResMed Form Care Transitions Partnership

Homecare Homebase launches ‘interoperability’ tool

In an effort to improve interoperability, Homecare Homebase (HCHB) announced Wednesday that it has officially launched HCHB Exchange, a tool that allows home-based care providers to send and receive patient information.

HCHB is a Dallas-based company that provides cloud-based software solutions for home health and hospice providers.

HCHB Exchange is part of HCHB Connect Suite, which helps users streamline patient referrals, clinician signatures and population health management needs.

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Additionally, the tool itself allows for the exchange of clinical data among more than 100,000 clinicians across the U.S., as well as 600,000 care providers connected through Carequality and the CommonWell Health Alliance.

In general, home-based providers often struggle with interoperability. In fact, 36% of home health and hospice providers still use the fax machine to receive referrals and another 20% report that phone calls are the primary way they receive referrals. Only 4% use an EMR system, according to a recent report from MatrixCare, Brightree and Porter Research.

HCHB’s new tool originally debuted in June and is currently being used by the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Colorado.

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“In just two months, we’ve gone from electronic faxing, verbal and written requests to instant access and answers — including approvals and real-time patient data we can now use to deliver the best care possible,” Christopher Lee, President and CEO of VNA of Colorado, said in a statement.

Founded in 1889, VNA of Colorado is the largest home health care agency in the state and provides 200,000 visits annually.

Apart from the HCHB Exchange news, Tabitha Health recently announced that it would utilize HCHB for its hospice and home health care business lines.

Lincoln, Nebraska-based Tabitha Health is a nonprofit that serves 28 Nebraska counties and offers rehabilitation therapy, home health care, senior living communities and hospice services.

Cerner, ResMed partner to improve care transitions

Global health platform Cerner Corporation (Nasdaq: CERN) and ResMed, a digital health company, recently announced plans to team up for a collaboration that aims to help improve care transitions.

Kansas City, Missouri-based Cerner is a supplier of health care information technology solutions that connects people and information systems at over 27,500 contracted provider facilities internationally.

ResMed is a San Diego-based company that provides “out-of-hospital” software platforms.

As a part of the agreement, Cerner’s Millennium electronic health record will be integrated with ResMed’s Brightree Home Health and Hospice platform.

“The resulting flow of insightful data will provide caregivers better tools to make more informed decisions and more easily transition patients from acute settings to out-of-hospital care,” Cerner said in a joint statement with ResMed.

Additionally, Cerner will integrate other ResMed digital health data platforms to its EHR and HealtheIntent population health platform.

“A person’s health data is their own and should move with them, giving providers the information they need to deliver personalized care. We look forward to supporting Cerner and its clients in shaping the future through connected care that improves people’s well-being and lowers costs for providers,” Raj Sodhi, SaaS business president for ResMed, said in the statement.

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