North Shore Health (NSH) Hospital Director Kimber Wraalstad said that NSH received a grant of $213,000 to support the eEmergency initiative.
The money was awarded from the Helmsley Foundation.
“The grant will assist with the purchase of technology and costs associated with the system, said Wraalstad. “The timing is fortuitous because the technology can be installed in the Emergency Department space as it is being built.
“We are also beginning our work with Avera to implement the e-Emergency system,” Wraalstad said.
According to Avera’s website, “At the touch of a button, rural clinicians and patients have virtual access to the eEmergency team of board-certified emergency physicians and emergency nurses who can assist in the management of critical conditions such as heart attack, stroke, and trauma. Often the bridge between patient presentation and the arrival of on-call physicians, Avera eEmergency uses advanced telehealth technologies to speed the initiation of diagnostic evaluation, reduce wait times, coordinate patient transfers, expedite treatments, free local staff to remain focused on the patient and family and, in many cases, help patients stay close to home and avoid transport.
“The goal of Avera eEmergency is to reduce disparities in rural health care access and quality through the use of advanced communication technologies. Avera eEmergency makes the resources of an urban health care facility available to the smallest communities, eliminating geographic barriers to care and making it possible for every patient to receive timely access to the highest quality care, every time.”
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust support efforts in the U.S. and around the world in health and select-based initiatives. Begun in 2009, by the year 2015, the Trust had awarded $1.635 billion in grants.
ECPN program
On March 15 the Minnesota Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) announced it would restart the Equitable Cost-Sharing for Publicly Owned Nursing Facilities (ECPN) program with April 1 as the date of the rate increase.
However, noted Wraalstad, the 30-day notice requirement to private pay residents is required, so the actual effective date of the ECPN update will be April 17, 2017.
The program was first implemented in 2011 and suspended last year following a change in the new value-based reimbursement methodology for nursing homes.
The ECPN Program as established to allow publicly owned nursing facilities to contribute funds and receive the federal match for those contributions. “Essentially, publicly owned nursing homes would give the state $1, and they would give us three dollars in return,” Wraalstad said.
Under the ECPN program, room rates for all residents, including private pay residents, will increase $7.71 per day.
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