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HealthCube's innovative Preventive Aged Care (PAC) service is, in effect, a GP practice specifically servicing the residential aged care industry. It offers:

• a dedicated aged care focus;
• a strong preventive emphasis;
• a reliable, scheduled physical presence at facilities that offer its services to their residents; and
• a suite of powerful clinical, IT and administrative tools to streamline service delivery

HealthCube was conceived by two Canberra medical practitioners who believed information technology could and should be better harnessed to improve the quality of life of aged care residents.

They recognised what all GPs know: that servicing RACFs from traditionally-structured practices can be highly problematic. The growing health demands of the broader community often leave insufficient hours in the day to attend to the complex needs of the very old.

The problem is worsening. For many reasons, including high GP workloads, the number of GPs supplying services to aged care residents is steadily decreasing - at a time when Australia's aged population is set to boom.

This growing disconnect between clinical demand and supply is uncontroversial. The Australian Medical Association acknowledged as recently as March 2009 that residents of aged care facilities were "missing out on high-quality medical care" because of a lack of access to doctors.

HealthCube employs GPs who deliver dedicated aged care clinical services to residents in RACFs with the aid of cutting-edge IT that better captures, manages and secures their health information. This and associated efficient workflow protocols represent a productivity edge the traditional GP approach doesn't have.

The PAC service is offered by participating RACFs to new residents without ongoing support from a traditional GP. The service may also be suitable for existing residents whose GP has retired, moved or become unavailable for whatever reason.

The primary aim of HealthCube's PAC service is to catch declines in resident health before they become serious, reducing hospital admissions and improving resident quality of life. To this end HealthCube-employed GPs deliver a suite of preventive assessments and reviews according to individual need but typically including:

• An initial assessment, and management plan for chronic and acute medical care;
• A comprehensive medical assessment (CMA) within 21 days of admission, then annually;
• A Resident Medication Management Review (RMMR) on admission, then annually; and
• A case conference six weeks after admission, then quarterly.

Ongoing support is delivered in the form of regular scheduled preventive chronic care consultations at participating RACFs typically no less frequently than one day a week, and more frequently as demand requires.

The HealthCube GP also develops an in- and after-hours emergency care plan for each PAC patient.

HealthCube also offers RACFs a stand-alone CMA service, where appropriate.

• Because HealthCube gathers and stores health data electronically, CMA and other information can be retrieved by care staff at the touch of a keypad. This potentially improves the quality of frontline care and increases the number of informed eyes looking out for the resident.

• HealthCube believes that GPs provide the cornerstone of care to nursing home residents. HealthCube's PAC practice reinforces this relationship, through the deployment of advanced clinical work flows combined with strong clinical rigor and oversight.

GPs committed to these principles are invited to register to learn more about HealthCube, and explore opportunities to work together to improve the quality of life of residents in the aged care setting.

 

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