Verizon teams up with digital health company to give broadband to low-income patients

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A Manhattan company that focuses on managing chronic conditions in the home is working with Verizon to provide broadband to low-income patients. The firm, eCaring, contracts with payers and home care agencies to provide care management software to reduce avoidable readmissions among their patients. But because many patients served by eCaring's product don't have high-speed Internet, access to broadband has been an issue. The company now supplies patients with a Samsung tablet and a Verizon data plan so that home health aides can send alerts and communicate with care managers. The eCaring software is now designed specifically for Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets, although that agreement could expand to include other Samsung devices.

The company's clients include insurers and home care agencies; Samsung ships its tablets to those clients and provide tech support. The tablets will be leased by eCaring insurance clients, such as Manhattan insurer Healthfirst. Robert Herzog, eCaring's chief executive, sees his company's service as an important method of keeping patients out of hospitals. For instance, one home aide encountered a patient with slurred speech. A manager was alerted, and sent a nurse to the home to make sure the patient hadn't suffered a stroke. The incident actually was a diabetic episode, and the nurse was able to administer insulin. "That returned the person's blood sugar to a normal range and avoided a trip to the emergency room," Mr. Herzog said. "We do that kind of thing every week." The company's clients include Senior Health Partners (Healthfirst's managed long-term care plan), Metropolitan Jewish Health System and several home care agencies, including Premier, Best Care, Allen and All Metro.


Verizon teams up with digital health company to give broadband to low-income patients