As New York State moves to require all nursing homes to provide no-cost access to teleconferencing services, we at RESTORE Skills are seeing just how auspicious a time it is for skilled nursing facilities to adopt the best of technology.
New York announced on Monday of this week that the state would require long-term care facilities to implement a set of permanent legal updates to its nursing home laws within 90 days. Facilities will need to develop a pandemic preparation plan that must be updated annually, which includes a specific initiative to update families of each facility's status and no-cost access to teleconferencing services to keep in touch with loved ones.
Operators must provide, free of charge, "remote video-conference or equivalent communication methods with family members and guardians," according to the new law, while updating families of infected residents once per day.
Whether states nationwide follow in New York's direction, one thing is clear from our view as a technology company inside this pandemic. Technology in healthcare is here to stay, and those companies that adapt the fastest will be positioned to succeed in the future.
RESTORE Skills - can help bolster your videoconferencing touchpoints with residents' families while affording residents' valuable skill-building training at the same time.
This means that instead of keeping up with weekly video chats and care conferences for each resident, families can be invited to join therapy sessions virtually. Everyone benefits from this added touchpoint. Residents get the encouragement they need to show off newly acquired therapy skills. Families get to see their loved ones are being well cared for and meeting new goals. And therapists can customize the experience for each patient by having family input on what most interests the patients. We've created therapy games where everybody wins.
RESTORE's CEO, Eran Arden, has seen firsthand how the therapy games can support skill-building while at the same time, reassuring families that their loved ones are getting the care they need in rehab. "We are seeing facilities turn the videoconferencing touchpoints into an amazing patient-family experience with the bonus of supporting their loved ones in an important skill-building activity. And here to support more facilities to do the same."
RESTORE's platform includes a built-in communication tool that invites families virtually. But it also works with Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams. Imagine how much more meaningful it is for families to communicate during therapy than at a predetermined time when perhaps the patient is too tired or isn't up to having a conversation? Using RESTORE therapy games as a communication tool makes it more like the patient's family is right in the room there with them.