{"id":260653,"date":"2024-08-21T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=260653"},"modified":"2024-08-21T15:04:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T15:04:55","slug":"telehealth-care-coordinators-actions-save-veteran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=260653","title":{"rendered":"Telehealth care coordinator\u2019s actions save Veteran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jean Hollinrake served in the Iowa Army National Guard for 21 years, first as a combat medic and then as an officer. Now retired from the guard, she serves Veterans as a care coordinator for the Remote Patient Monitoring \u2013 Home Telehealth (RPM-HT) program at Central Iowa VA <\/a>in Des Moines.<\/p>\n

She recently used RPM-HT technology to help a Veteran who was experiencing a life-threatening, irregular heartbeat.<\/p>\n

As an RPM-HT care coordinator, Hollinrake helps Veterans establish health goals and remotely monitors their daily health data, such as heart rate and blood pressure readings. Additionally, she assists with facilitating treatment changes, clinic appointments and, when necessary, emergency care.<\/p>\n

Hollinrake began her day as normal on May 22 by reviewing Veterans\u2019 health data. She noticed that a Veteran with congestive heart failure transmitted an unexpectedly high blood pressure and heart rate. She was concerned, so she called the Veteran to assess and evaluate how he was feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe outcome could have been completely different.\u201d<\/h2>\n
\n
<\/a>
Jean Hollinrake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Due to the assessment, the Veteran was encouraged to visit the local emergency room. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Veteran was hesitant to visit the ER, which isn\u2019t unusual. No one likes a trip to the ER if it can be avoided. The Veteran mentioned he had a home visit scheduled with his VA social worker that same day. Contact was made with his social worker to see if they could help persuade the Veteran to be evaluated,\u201d Hollinrake said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a little extra encouragement from his care team, the Veteran visited the emergency room, and ER staff conducted an electrocardiogram. It showed the Veteran was experiencing supraventricular tachycardia, which is when the heart beats abnormally fast.<\/p>\n

In severe cases, this irregular heartbeat can cause the heart to stop altogether. The ER staff\u00a0provided a brief shock treatment to restore the Veteran\u2019s regular heartbeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad he not received help when he did, the outcome could have been completely different,\u201d Hollinrake said.<\/p>\n

Following treatment, the Veteran was back home in a matter of hours. Hollinrake\u2019s quick response saved the Veteran from what could have been a costly stay in the hospital, if not a more severe outcome.<\/p>\n

RPM-HT program<\/h2>\n

Veterans who enroll in the RPM-HT program can send health data, such as vitals and questionnaire responses, to their VA home telehealth care team. To track their vitals, eligible Veterans can receive VA telehealth technology, such as blood pressure machines and pulse oximeters, both of which measure heart rate, scales and more.<\/p>\n

41% reduction in hospital admissions<\/h2>\n

\u201cHome telehealth works because it gives the Veteran a voice in their care. The program is voluntary, so generally we see great involvement from the Veterans who choose to enroll. Home telehealth allows care coordinators to routinely monitor and connect with Veterans wherever they are providing the right care, in the right place at the right time,\u201d Hollinrake said.<\/p>\n

In fiscal year 2023, Veterans enrolled in RPM-HT experienced a 41% reduction in hospital admissions. Additionally, enrolled Veterans who were admitted to the hospital saw a 70% reduction in the length of their stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always tell Veterans I\u2019m not here to replace their care team, but I will always be their cheerleader. We\u2019re all in our health care journeys together,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

To learn more about the RPM \u2013 HT program, visit the VA Telehealth Services website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jean Hollinrake served in the Iowa Army National Guard for 21 years, first as a combat medic and then as an officer. Now retired from the guard, she serves Veterans as a care coordinator for the Remote Patient Monitoring \u2013 Home Telehealth (RPM-HT) program at Central Iowa VA in Des Moines. She recently used RPM-HT […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":260655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1222,81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-remote-patient-monitoring","category-telehealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=260653"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260659,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260653\/revisions\/260659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/260655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=260653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=260653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=260653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}