There are 50 million surgeries in the United States annually. Advanced methods and optimized surgical pathways can speed up recovery and reduce cost and unnecessary opioid use. Our customer, Goldfinch Health, offers a unique systematic approach to help employees navigate surgery and get back faster to their lives, including work.
Advanced surgical care pathways with the help of the BuddyCare Platform
Goldfinch Health, located in Austin, Texas, has started supporting American patients through advanced surgical care pathways with the help of the BuddyCare Platform. First patients began using the mobile app beginning of November 2019.
Patients undergoing cholecystectomy, cancer excision, hernia repair, hip/knee replacement, and hysterectomy surgeries/procedures have now support and consultation through the app. While patients use the app, Goldfinch Nurse Navigators monitor and guide the patients remotely using the BuddyCare Dashboard.
So far, the feedback from the patients has been excellent, and the patients have adopted the use of the mobile app well. We were delighted to learn all of the patients who have participated with Goldfinch, including use of the mobile app, have rated the experience as 9 or 10 when asked if they would recommend Goldfinch to a family member or friend.
What’s inside the patient-facing surgery app?
In the preoperative phase, the app provides information packages and digitized pre-questionnaires.
In the postoperative phase, the app provides all necessary instructions such as surgery wound instructions, common symptoms list, returning to work, when to call the hospital.
Additionally, the app has a pain meter, pain medication questionnaires, secure messaging, outtake assessments and automated reminders.
Faster return to normal life with fewer opioids with the Goldfinch Nurse
Goldfinch Nurse Navigators consult the patients as they progress in their care pathways. Patients, for example, fill the pain meter through the app, and Goldfinch Nurses receive the results. The use of the pain meter reveals how the patient's pain is being managed in the critical days following surgery. It may indicate a need for a change to the pain medication regimen or other opportunities to intervene and help the patient on the road to recovery. If patients are not using the pain meter, they might take opioids based on prescription instructions even when the opioids wouldn’t be needed.
Goldfinch CEO Brand Newland said, “The two weeks after surgery are crucial in patient communication when our nurse needs to be able to monitor, support and guide patients with pain medication use, and avoid complications causing costly readmissions and unnecessarily-long recovery. The mobile app has been a great way to collect information/data and provide postoperative consultation to the patients.”
Secure communication and data collection
As we interviewed Goldfinch Health CEO Brand Newland and COO John Greenwood recently, we found one of the most important features for them has been the secure messaging channel between the patients and Nurse Navigators for data collection.
Secure messaging between patients and Goldfinch Nurse has been very useful as the Nurse Navigator needed a safe and secure platform to interact with the patients. Phone calls are not always answered, but the mobile app is a convenient way to reach and provide personalized care to the patients.
Data and discussion in a digital format to support documentation. It has been useful to have all interaction and discussions with the patients stored safely in one location.
Collecting structured data for reporting to hospitals has been valuable. Goldfinch Outtake assessments include Patient-reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and Patient-reported Experience Measures (PREMs) provide very useful reports about the care quality and patient experience to the hospitals.
“Our partnership with Buddy has been a key to us in bringing our surgery and recovery navigation program to the US market,” said Greenwood. “We believe in the power of the human touch, amplified digitally. Buddy Healthcare has expertly supported our needs.”
It has been a pleasure for Buddy Healthcare to collaborate with innovative and unique Goldfinch Health, and we look forward to our journey together!
