Web-based Care Coordination Tool?

I was asked the following question today – is there a client management product that can be used for Care Coordination — either on a Mac or PC, which would make it possible for long distance caregivers or distant family members to share notes, for a professional care manager or home care agency to post reports, upload documents that others on the care team may need, put activities on a schedule to see what mom and dad are up to, etc.  The idea is that instead of lots of emails back and forth there would be a place on the web where family members and the care team can go. Everyone would have a password so that they could sign in to and see updates at any time. Wouldn’t this be great?

The question made me think of my favorite graph from the National Alliance of Caregiving eConnected Family Caregiver Study that came out this past January.  The graph shows what technologies family caregivers would find helpful, or if there were barriers to their use.  The top two technologies that family caregivers thought would be helpful and would be the easiest for them to use were:  Personal Health Record Tracking and a Caregiver Coordination System both of which could be handled by the tool my colleague was asking about.  Interesting, no?

eConnected Family Caregivers Study, National Alliance for Caregiving, January 2011

So, what’s the answer to my colleague’s question?  Well, there are a bunch of products being developed that can support care coordination but there aren’t too many  yet.  These are basically personal networks, which is a type of social network like Facebook that is designed for caregiving and can be accessed only by specific people.   They are different from other social networks because the personal information is never disclosed to anyone outside the private network.

There are a couple that I can think of –  MyRemCare and Tyze.

RemCare is intended for professionals and keeps track of everything including medication lists and other health information, care provider notes, schedule, and reports and photos of client activities.  Last I checked, the cost for a single user was as high as $50/month but the cost goes down for multiple users (i.e. multiple clients, not multiple users on one account).  Also, some home care and home health agencies include it for free if you hire their care provider – a very nice value added as long as the agency and care provider otherwise does a good job.  The company web site mentions that home care agencies such as Home Instead, Senior Helpers, and Right At Home use this product; I personally have access to it through a client who has a care provider with BrightStar Care.  Care managers could also offer this service to clients as well and if it is a high need client it may be worth offering it at reduced cost.

The company that does MyRemCare has recently evolved to offer another great looking product called “Care Team Connect” – an enhanced case management product that is geared towards care transitions for Accountable Care Organizations and Patient-centered medical homes.   Care transitions will be the topic of another blog it’s an entirely different topic.

Tyze networks are private, personal, online environments that coordinate involvement. They help families, friends, neighbours, and professionals develop what they call a connected circle of care around an individual or community. This product includes private document storage and sharing, private email conversations, a calendar to schedule everything from birthdays to medical appointments, a list of goals and tasks as well as a virtual “to do” list and a place to share pictures and stories.  Cost is $129/year for unlimited access by everyone in the network.

Tyze is intended for all of the following groups:

• Adult children caring for their aging parents.
• People experiencing acute or chronic illness.
• Families supporting a member with a disability.
• Individuals facing a life challenge.
• Professional care providers seeking to provide coordinated care.
• People seeking to enrich their connections with family and friends.

There are a bunch of lower cost or free tools such as LifeLedger, eCareDiary, and CaringBridge – Each of these does a great job but none of them has all of the tools in one place like MyRemcare and Tyze do.   There are more products like this coming soon and I can’t wait to check them out and share them here.

I’d love to hear whether readers like any of these products and what else has worked for you.