Caremerge Introduces Tech to Senior Care

CHICAGO – Caremerge, which launched in 2012 in Chicago, is a technology solution that focuses on senior health care.

With more than 87,000 senior living facilities that face challenges in care coordination, as well as increasing regulations, lower reimbursements, higher employee turnover and a lack of technology, the platform brings solutions to senior living facilities. About 8,000 people that are 65 and older enroll in Medicare each day, and this technology can help them improve their alignment with outside providers. Relatives of elderly people in need of additional health and care services to help them continue living independently may well want to consider looking into programs that help with care for seniors, enabling them to live as independently as possible for as long as possible.

People over the age of 65 are the heaviest users of the health care system and facilities like this Assisted living irvine, but care coordination is difficult with limited senior facility staff having to communicate with sometimes up to seven outside stakeholders (physicians, specialists, therapists and family members, for example) for each resident, in order to make timely care decisions. Faxes and phone calls have been the best option to-date, but through the use of mobile apps (powered by Twilio), Caremerge is helping providers connect and exchange significant information faster.

“Before Caremerge, we wasted too much time searching for information in many different places. Caremerge provides us with one easy system for all of our data to be stored and looked up easily anytime, anywhere on mobile devices. It has allowed us to use our time much more efficiently,” said Rita Scaletta, director of finance at Friedman Place.

Asif Khan founded Caremerge based on his background in a global role with GE Healthcare IT, a company that provides services in medical imaging and information technologies, and his own personal experience dealing with inefficient coordination during a health emergency. Kahn and Fahad Aziz, co-founder of Caremerge spent a lot of time in long-term care facilities observing how nurses recorded data, communicated with family members and hospitals and dealt with documentation. The staff was depending on sticky notes, whiteboards, calendars and checklists that could get lost or be difficult to read, depending on who was writing them.

Senior facility staff can now use automated calendar updates, record residents’ vitals and other critical information, which is then sent to outside stakeholders. For example, the activities app helps coordinate activity schedules between the staff, resident and family members, keeping everyone informed on when an activity is and how the resident is getting to and from it. The clinical app helps the staff meet increasing regulations and allows them to trace and account for care providers more easily.

In July 2012, Caremerge was awarded the InnovateLTC and LinkTank award for Most Innovative Company in Long-Term Care.