Joseph Ebberwein
As 2024 comes to a close, the Corstrata team reflects on the transformative events that have redefined the healthcare landscape. These pivotal moments have not only influenced the broader industry but also highlighted the innovations driving advancements in wound and ostomy care through digital health and virtual nursing.
Below are ten impactful events that shaped healthcare this year:
1. CMS TEAM Model Introduction
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) model. This mandatory, episode-based alternative payment model emphasizes value-based care by incentivizing providers to reduce readmissions, improve care transitions, and enhance long-term outcomes. The TEAM model’s focus on health equity includes social risk adjustments and flexibilities for hospitals serving underserved populations, driving sustainable healthcare practices.
2. Expansion of Hospital-at-Home Programs
CMS is expected to extend the Acute Care at Home provisions for another five years, underscoring the success of delivering hospital-level care in home settings. These programs, supported by advances in telehealth and virtual nursing, have improved patient satisfaction and reduced healthcare costs. As of 2024, over 31,000 patients have benefited from these innovative care models.
3. Legislative Support for Telehealth
Federal and state legislatures passed critical bills supporting telehealth expansion, addressing reimbursement parity, interstate licensing, and audio-only consultations. Notable measures, such as the CONNECT for Health Act, aim to eliminate geographic restrictions and extend flexibilities, ensuring broader access to virtual care.
4. Growth in Virtual Nursing Adoption
Virtual nursing has become a critical solution to address the clinician shortage, enabling healthcare systems to provide timely patient care remotely. Virtual nurses efficiently manage patient education, monitoring, and consultations, ensuring equitable access to care in urban and rural settings alike. In 2024, the use of virtual nursing expanded significantly in inpatient hospital settings, allowing for enhanced patient monitoring and support while reducing strain on in-person nursing staff.
5. Advancements in AI-Driven Care
Artificial intelligence solidified its role in healthcare, with applications ranging from diagnostic support to predictive analytics. AI-powered tools now monitor wound healing, predict complications, and assist in clinical decision-making, especially for patients with chronic wounds or complex conditions. These technologies enhance outcomes by enabling proactive interventions.
6. Focus on Chronic Disease Management
Chronic conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, which account for significant healthcare costs, saw innovative management strategies. Telehealth and remote monitoring interventions improved medication adherence, clinical outcomes, and dietary habits, showcasing the potential of digital health to transform chronic disease care.
7. Launch of Next-Generation Wearables
Wearable devices advanced significantly, enabling real-time tracking of wound healing, ostomy complications (such as dehydration, etc), and other vital metrics. These tools empower patients and clinicians with actionable insights, facilitating timely interventions and personalized care plans.
8. Increased Focus on Health Equity
Healthcare systems intensified efforts to address disparities in care access for underserved populations. Initiatives expanded telehealth services and tailored care models to address social determinants of health. Programs like CMS’s TEAM model incorporated health equity considerations, ensuring more inclusive care delivery.
9. Leadership in Specialty Telehealth
Specialty telehealth services solidified their role in managing complex and chronic conditions. These targeted solutions reduced patient travel burdens, improved access to expert care, and demonstrated the effectiveness of virtual models in enhancing patient outcomes.
10. Advancements in Digital Health
Digital health innovations, including telehealth and remote patient monitoring, continued to reshape the delivery of care. These technologies provided efficient, scalable solutions for addressing a wide range of healthcare needs, from chronic disease management to acute care transitions.
Corstrata’s Contributions in 2024
Corstrata has been at the forefront of many transformative developments, leveraging digital health to drive advancements in wound and ostomy care:
Hospital-at-Home Expertise: Corstrata supported over 30 hospital-at-home sites, delivering specialized wound care remotely and aligning with the trend of home-based acute care.
Virtual Nursing Solutions: By addressing clinician shortages, Corstrata’s virtual specialty nursing services provided high-quality wound and ostomy care to diverse patient populations, including those in underserved areas with FQHCs and homeless populations
Education and Research Leadership: The company launched educational modules for providers, clinicians, and wound care professionals across various care settings and presented research posters at several wound care and health conferences.
Ostomy Advocacy: Corstrata continues to expand its service offerings to persons living with an ostomy and the providers that care for them (hospitals, home health, skilled nursing, FQHCs, homeless mobile clinics, etc). This important work was expanded in Corstrata’s partnership with Ostomy 101, a national non-profit providing resources to persons living with an ostomy.
Corstrata’s proactive approach ensures it remains a leader in patient-centered, technology-enabled healthcare delivery. By aligning with the most significant trends in healthcare, Corstrata continues to provide innovative solutions that enhance patient outcomes and redefine care standards while supporting provider goals and initiatives.
About Corstrata
Corstrata is a virtual care solution that utilizes technology to provide access to scarce certified wound, ostomy, and continence nurses (WOCNs) at the patient's bedside in post-acute provider settings, including home health, hospice, skilled nursing facilities, and emerging hospital-at-home providers across all 50 states. Corstrata's team of WOC nurses provides consultations with provider staff at the patient's bedside, either through HIPAA-compliant video or through review of store-and-forward wound images, to improve clinical and financial outcomes for providers. To learn more about how Corstrata can help your organization better support your staff, visit www.corstrata.com.
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