LodgeNet Interactive Corporation, which provides video-on-demand, broadband Internet and satellite TV to the hospitality and healthcare industries, announced Tuesday that it has reorganized its LodgeNet Healthcare group as an independent but wholly-owned subsidiary.
Company officials say LodgeNet Healthcare, which will be led by President Gary Kolbeck, seeks to grow from the 60 hospitals and health systems currently served by LodgeNet; better facilitate the development of new technologies; provide a vehicle through which healthcare leaders and strategic partners can converge to meet the evolving needs of care providers; and assist hospitals in complying with federal mandates related to patient engagement, the meaningful use of electronic medical records and improvement of patient outcomes.
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"This move demonstrates our strong commitment to proactively respond to the substantial demand for interactive patient engagement and accelerate decision-making to capitalize on the significant opportunities that demand represents," said Scott C. Petersen, chairman and CEO of LodgeNet Interactive, who noted that his firm's interactive communication technlogies "can help hospitals transform typically passive patients into more informed, involved and active participants in managing their health before, during and after their hospital stay."
Looming health reforms, such as the implementation of value-based purchasing and the preventable hospital readmission program, focus on empowering patients and placing them at the center of healthcare decisions. The goals of these programs are to improve quality, safety, coordination and cost effectiveness of care by tying reimbursement and a hospital's profit or loss to clinical performance.
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LodgeNet Healthcare's eSUITE interacts with patients throughout the entire care continuum, say officials – eXPRESS helps patients prepare for a hospital stay or procedure by providing relevant videos, timely reminders and more; eNGAGE, an inpatient solution, prescribes and delivers education content to patients through in-room televisions based on an individual's specific diagnosis, age and language.
The technology allows patients to access information about their care team, condition, treatment, procedure, test, medication, daily schedule and post-discharge instructions while still in the hospital, when they are able to interact with care providers. Patients can even order approved food and control their room's temperature and lighting. The system tracks viewership, measures patient understanding through a series of interactive questions on the TV, generates follow-up prompts for clinicians, makes it easy for hospitals to identify when additional patient counseling and intervention are necessary, and dynamically records all actions in the patient's EHR.
Once patients leave the hospital, providers can use LodgeNet's eXTEND to deliver personalized information via the patient's preferred bi-directional communication devices including mobile phones, home PCs and Web-enabled TVs.
"The more informed and involved patients are in their care, the better they, their hospital and the overall healthcare system will be, meaning that providers must fundamentally change how they interact with and treat patients inside and outside their four walls," said Petersen.
"Patient engagement is now a business necessity for all providers, and LodgeNet Healthcare is rapidly becoming a top resource for hospitals moving in this direction," added Kolbeck. "This reorganization will enhance LodgeNet Healthcare's market responsiveness during a period of unprecedented change, opportunities and challenges."
