Health Care Impact Studies

TRECS primary goal is to identify new programs, services and technologies that can effectively address complex problems within our health care system that are negatively impacting seniors and adding unnecessary costs to our health care system.

Current areas being evaluated:

  • Social Robots: Utilizing social robots to support both socially isolated seniors living alone and residents in senior living facilities, promoting social interaction, reducing loneliness, and enabling remote patient monitoring and medication compliance.

  • New Technologies: Implementing tools that help seniors remain independent in their homes while also complementing (not replacing) the work of staff in personal care and skilled nursing facilities.

  • Facility Model Innovation: Redesigning senior care facilities to improve accessibility, enhance quality of care, and reduce overall system costs.

Past Health Care Impact Studies

Telemedicine in Long Term Care to Reduce Unnecessary and Avoidable SNF to Hospital Admissions (2022)

Initial Case Study

  • A study to evaluate if the use of telemedicine could help reduce unnecessary and avoidable SNF to hospital transfers, especially during evening and weekend hours. A total of 28 Florida SNFs implemented telemedicine services and the results were track over 12 months

Discoveries

  • A total of 646 seniors were identified as having avoided a hospital readmission as a direct result of the telemedicine intervention

  • Savings to CMS from these avoided hospitalizations was estimated at Over $6.4 million dollars

  • For the participating facilities, an average of over $40,000 of added revenue was achieved with several closer ot $100,000.

Recommendations

  • Telemedicine should be made available in skilled nursing facilities across America

  • If telemedicine was available in all 15,000 SNFs across America, if could

    prevent well over 300,000 unnecessary and avoidable admissions a year

    generating a savings for CMS in excess of $3billion dollars.

Past Health Care Studies Conducted

  • Improving Dental and Oral Care Services for Nursing Facility Residents Funded by CMS (2006)

  • Reducing CNA Turnover Utilizing Nurse Practitioners in SNFs Funded by CMS (2010)

  • Amazing Stories to Be Told: A program designed to connect high school juniors with seniors in SNFs. Funded by TRECS (Started in 2015 and continues annually)

  • Advancing Quality of Care for Nursing Facility Residents through Telemedicine Funded by CMS in Florida with 28 participating SNFs (2022)

  • Advancing Quality of Cre for Nursing Facility Residents through Telemedicine Funded by CMS in North Carolina with 10 participating SNFs (2023)

  • Improving Dental and Oral Care Services for Nursing Facility Residents – An update of the original study in 2006. Funded by Citizens Security Insurance Company