One of the overlooked advantages of providing patient care through telehealth or in-home visits is the amount of patient customization medical care companies can provide. Medical home visits can handle anything from lab work, immunizations, x-rays, automated medication dispensing, specialist referral, advanced care planning, and the daily remote monitoring of vitals.

Every day, nurse practitioners (NPs) are saving lives and improving the health of our friends and family. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has elevated awareness of how NPs are essential to our health care system. To honor their heroic efforts, communities nationwide are joining Columbia in recognizing the critical role of NPs as part of the annual National Nurse Practitioner Week (NP Week) celebration, held November 7-13 this year.

Diabetes is a chronic problem in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in three Americans have prediabetes, and 37.3 million people are currently diagnosed with the disease. The disease, if left uncontrolled, can lead to severe complications, with cardiovascular disease being one of the most prevalent.

The power of a team in any industry rests in its expanded capabilities when focused on a common goal. A team approach in healthcare delivery uses the patient's overall wellness as its common goal. South Carolina & Georgia House Calls (SC & GA HC) combines their primary care offering with the expertise of multiple in-house specialties to benefit patients with varying needs by treating the whole patient.

People hire personal trainers to reach their fitness goals and to be held accountable for doing the work, and executives hire coaches to help them meet the goals they have set for their companies. South Carolina & Georgia House Calls (SC & GA HC) believes these same principles apply to patients setting healthcare goals, especially those suffering from chronic illnesses or struggling to make healthier lifestyle choices.

Medical care is not a one-way street. Patients involved in their care who view the patient-caregiver relationship as a partnership will often experience better outcomes. Here are eight things patients can do to ensure the best result when seeing their provider.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, six measures are used to evaluate the delivery of value-based healthcare – safe, effective, timely, efficient, equitable, and patient-centered. Insurance companies and providers agree to a combination of these measures in determining a quality score for their patients.

South Carolina & Georgia House Calls (SC & GA HC) practices a value-based healthcare model. Value-based is a better-positioned incentive that seeks to improve a patient’s overall health and outcome in a measurable way. Under this model, providers are paid based on patient outcomes rather than a fee-for-service model that ties reimbursements to the number of healthcare services delivered.

Heart disease and stroke are the worlds leading causes of death, claiming 18.6 million lives each year. September 29, 2022, is World Heart Day, a global campaign that encourages individuals, communities, healthcare providers, and governments to participate in activities related to heart health.

The purpose of a healthcare team is to bring together all the skills necessary to treat the whole patient. The registered dietician (RD) is an integral part of the South Carolina & Georgia House Calls (SC & GA HC) team.

November 13 is the start of National Nurse Practitioner Week and presents an opportunity for healthcare companies, co-workers, and patients to recognize these medical professionals' exceptional dedication and skill.

Watching hurricane Ian this week as it approached Florida, I was reminded of the difficult task assisted living communities (ALF) and skilled nursing facilities (SNF) face when having to evacuate their residents. With the complicated logistics and physical hardship of moving residents into unfamiliar accommodations, there is also the consideration of how to provide for their ongoing medical needs, including medication management during the evacuation.

Awareness is the key to managing diabetes. Understanding what makes your blood sugar rise and fall daily is critical to controlling the disease. Many factors can effectively help manage diabetes, like diet, medication, weight loss, and exercise, to name a few.

South Carolina & Georgia House Calls (SC & GA HC) has been actively engaged in remote patient monitoring (RPM) since launching its program in October 2019. RPM technology allows daily monitoring of a patient’s vitals in the home. The vitals are then transmitted via a tablet to a central location to be analyzed by licensed medical professionals.

Palliative Care is specialized medical care providing relief from pain and other symptoms of a severe illness. The idea of palliative care grew out of the hospice movement and is focused on improving a patient's quality of life. Counseling, a critical component of palliative care, is vital in helping both patient and family members set realistic goals based on desired outcomes.

Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), a technology that allows for the daily monitoring of a patient's vitals in the home and then transmits those readings to a central location to be analyzed by licensed professionals, shows remarkable results for reducing unnecessary hospitalizations.

One of the exciting technologies utilized by SC House Calls (SCHC) in 2020 to improve patient Care was Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM). The technology, which allows healthcare professionals to monitor a patient's vitals remotely.

South Carolina House Calls (SCHC) is piloting a new care initiative for Assisted Living communities designed to provide the same patient care model used for private residences. The model has successfully eliminated unnecessary hospitalizations by increasing patient visits through both face-to-face and telemedicine visits.