The Pharos Solution

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Tel-Assurance®, engages, motivates and drives improved self-care. This increases the efficiency and effectiveness of and collaboration with their care team. Through Tel-Assurance, participants self-report their health status daily through the phone or Web. It’s elegantly simple and rapidly scalable by design. The unique approach we take actively engages individuals in their healthcare and provides your care managers with real-time information that allows them to intervene before symptoms escalate. It is an effective and proven way to help organizations like yours enhance your current care management programs and reduce avoidable hospital admissions and overall healthcare costs among many diverse populations.

As the prevalence of chronic conditions continues to grow, better care coordination is becoming critical to the success of all healthcare organizations. Currently, cost-effective chronic care management is limited either by the number of patients/members care providers and care managers can interact with, or by their frequency of communication. By incorporating the voice of the patient/member, Tel-Assurance closes this gap and allows for better care coordination without the need for additional resources.

Developed and validated by practicing physicians and care coordinators, Tel-Assurance can seamlessly augment your organization’s care management efforts. Through the use of leading-edge technology, Tel-Assurance provides a platform to monitor patient behavior on a daily basis. Participants receive the contact they need to stay healthy and loyal, and your staff is able to manage more patients with less effort and time.

Patients spend less time in the hospital and more time connecting to your organization’s outpatient services. When they do require admission, they are more likely to go home sooner. Loyalty to your organization is built through a daily "dose" of your brand.

Through targeted survey questions, Tel-Assurance can expand the efficiency, effectiveness and reach of care coordination programs for:

HEART FAILURE

The Problem
Today more than five million Americans have HF, with 550,000 new cases reported each year, costing the U.S. an estimated $29.6 billion. HF is the underlying reason for 6.5 million hospital days annually and 15% of Medicare hospitalizations. Of those 15%, 25% are readmitted within 30-days.

Barriers to Effective HF Management
HF is a chronic, progressive disease that is often marked by acute exacerbations. However, HF can be managed and, as proven in a broad variety of clinical trials, unnecessary hospitalizations can be avoided. The most successful HF treatment includes preventive measures, early medical intervention for signs and symptoms and adherence to guideline-recommended treatments. However, numerous barriers, such as lack of general understanding about HF and its treatment, insufficient support for necessary, long-term lifestyle changes and inappropriate management of urgent symptoms exist. In fact, the majority of HF readmissions are triggered by lifestyle behaviors under patients’ own control. With the proper monitoring, education and care, these obstacles can be overcome, opening the door to cost savings and reductions in avoidable hospital admissions and readmissions.

The Solution

Tel-Assurance for HF includes tailored survey questions specifically designed to cue HF patients on appropriate self-care behaviors and identify the early warning signs of heart failure, such as rapid weight change, chest tightness, shortness of breath, fatigue and/or confusion. Tel-Assurance for HF:

• Improves understanding of HF and its treatments, symptoms and complications
• Improves management of urgent symptoms
• Encourages healthy lifestyle choices such as following a low salt/low fat diet and physical activity
• Supports the use of preventive measures such as flu and Pneumonia shots
• Promote treatment plan adherence
• Builds self-management skills and confidence
• Reduces unnecessary utilizations, such as emergency room visits and hospital admissions

Pharos clients have reported the following results using Tel-Assurance for treating heart failure:

• 60% decrease in all-cause admissions
• 50%+ reduction in 30-day readmissions
• 66% one-year patient retention
• Three- to five-fold increase in care management caseloads

COPD

The Problem
COPD is often under-recognized and misdiagnosed and progressively worsens over time. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., killing more than 120,000 Americans each year. COPD is one of the top five conditions responsible for hospital admissions and readmissions with 500,000 admissions annually , a 23% readmission rate and is one of the most frequent reasons for re-hospitalization .

Barriers to Effective COPD Management
COPD is a costly, progressive disease that is often marked by acute exacerbations. COPD symptoms often worsen over time and can decrease quality of life and limit the ability to do routine activities. COPD has no cure yet, and doctors do not know how to reverse the damage to the airways and lungs. However, treatments and lifestyle changes can help sufferers feel better, stay more active, and slow the progress of the disease while avoiding exacerbations and unnecessary hospitalizations.

The Problem
Tel-Assurance for COPD includes tailored survey questions specifically designed to cue COPD patients on appropriate self-care behaviors and monitor for infection, bronchitis and/or pneumonia exacerbation, hypoxia, ischemia, pneumothorax, medication compliance, heart failure exacerbation and hypoventilation. Tel-Assurance for COPD:

• Improves understanding about COPD and its treatments and symptoms
• Improves the management of urgent symptoms
• Maximizes remaining lung function and improves quality of life
• Supports long and lasting behavior change
• Promotes treatment plan compliance
• Reduces emergency room visits and hospital admissions

All-cause hospital admissions for participants of the Tel-Assurance
COPD module at a not-for-profit healthcare system in CA

DIABETES

The Problem
Diabetes is a deadly, costly disease that affects more than 18 million Americans and profoundly increases the risk of other major and costly conditions. Additionally, 41 million Americans ages 40 to 74 have pre-diabetes and are at increased risk to develop diabetes within 10 years . Each year, diabetes results in 12,000 to 24,000 new cases of blindness, 27,900 kidney failures and 187,000 deaths.

Barriers to Optimal Diabetes Care

Self-management of diabetes can be a daunting task for many patients, especially for those who are also managing frequently present co-morbid conditions, such as coronary artery disease, heart failure, depression, hypertension or chronic kidney disease. Left unchecked, the disease progresses and requires acute treatment for a variety of complications.

The Solution

Tel-Assurance for diabetes includes tailored survey questions specifically designed to help identify early indications of trends in hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, lack of medication adherence, co-morbid depression, infection and disengagement with the program. Tel-Assurance for Diabetes:

• Improves education and understanding of diabetes, its symptoms and treatments
• Promotes treatment plan adherence
• Builds self-management skills and confidence
• Reduces complications and unnecessary utilization, such as emergency room visits and avoidable
• hospital admissions
• Supports long and lasting behavior change

DEPRESSION

The Problem
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, in a given year, approximately 20.9 million American adults, or about 9.5% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year have a mood disorder, including major depressive disorder, the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for individuals ages 15 to 44. The direct and indirect costs of mood disorder illnesses total over $43 billion per year. For patients with chronic conditions, depression is very common as these individuals address the challenges and frequent limitations of their chronic conditions.

Pharos Findings
The Iowa Medicaid Congestive Heart Failure Population Disease Management Demonstration reported a 20% cost decrease for participants suffering with co-morbid depression.

ASTHMA

The Problem
The American Lung Association estimates that approximately 20 million Americans have asthma, costing the healthcare system more than $18 billion per year. According to annual U.S. prevalence statistics for chronic diseases, every day in America, 40,000 people miss school or work, 30,000 people have an asthma attack and 1,000 people are admitted to the hospital due to asthma.

HIGH RISK MATERNITY

The Problem
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hospitalizations for pregnancy-related complications occurring before delivery account for more than $1 billion annually. With convergent factors, such as older moms, chronic health conditions among pregnant women and multiple births due to infertility treatments, medical experts predict even higher costs in upcoming years.

MEDICATION ADHERENCE

The Problem
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 50% of all U.S. patients are not compliant with their doctors’ medication treatment plans. This medication non-compliance (non-adherence), the failure to take drugs on time in the dosages prescribed, is as dangerous and costly as many illnesses. According to a U.S. Senate subcommittee study, medication noncompliance results in more than 300,000 deaths in the U.S. per year.