Home-care certification from AffirmCare

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Sept. 5, 2012—AffirmCare, the innovative leader of in-home care certified solutions, has launched the industry’s first independent in-home care certification process. AffirmCare certification builds client trust and confidence by ensuring that quality care is provided on time and certain internal controls are met. By becoming AffirmCare certified, home-care providers can accelerate growth and profitability by differentiating themselves from the competition.   

According to a report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the health care in-home service industry is expected to reach $90 billion nationally by 2014.  However, home health care companies in nearly two dozen states aren’t regulated, and only a handful require licenses for companies that provide nonmedical services.

“Although the in-home health care industry is growing at a rapid pace, regulation is lagging,” said Philip Geier, president of AffirmCare. “There is currently no way for a consumer to easily distinguish between a good or bad provider. By becoming AffirmCare certified, organizations can affordably use certification as a marketing tool to gain client trust and grow business.” 

The 90-day certification process uses a defined five-phase methodology to assist during all stages of the engagement. During that time period, a health-care provider places a MyCare wireless device in each of its patient’s homes. During scheduled visits, the health-care aide must push an alert button on the device when they arrive and before they leave. Using a wireless signal, the AffirmCare MyCare device sends real-time data to AffirmCare’s cloud and integrates the data with the certification process through a custom application designed by Digi International, a leading machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions provider.  

“The custom application is a good example of how M2M connectivity leverages data to drive change and help organizations improve their bottom lines,” said Matt Jennings, vice president of Digi International’s Solutions Group. “We worked closely with AffirmCare to identify its business drivers and develop a custom M2M application.”

“Digi’s industry expertise allowed us to reduce our time to market in becoming the industry’s first in-home care certification provider for on-time care,” said Mark Geier, CEO of AffirmCare.  “Their broad set of wireless products, cloud services, consulting and application development services allows AffirmCare to accelerate our go-to-market strategy and grow revenue more quickly.”

The Digi created custom application allows MyCare devices to be programmed via the cloud, making it easy to deploy and maintain the system. It also enables AffirmCare the ability to access and analyze data in multiple ways to aide in the certification process. In addition to the MyCare device and application, AffirmCare’s highly trained and experienced planning experts manage the process with a set of measurement criteria that the client must meet to become AffirmCare certified. Measurement criteria include on-time care, patient scheduling, escalation procedures, no-show policy, client communication and problem resolution. After the 90-day certification process, the MyCare device is removed from the patient’s home. AffirmCare certified providers have the option to purchase the devices to continue monitoring their in-home aides. For more information visit www.affirmcare.com.