Home health care services have been around in India for quite a few years now. But only recently these services have gained popularity and recognition. When the pandemic hit hard, teleconsultations and home health care services became safe alternatives for people to seek medical help without going to a hospital.
 
Despite the recent growth of home care services sector, there still exists a gap. People battling complex or long-term illnesses like cancer, multiple sclerosis, stroke, etc. still end up making multiple visits to hospitals to seek help with symptoms and side effects. We believe that these things can be managed at
home by a home care service provider that collaborates with the specialist. This is where Ubiqare’s home health care model is different.
 
We are India’s first home care service provider that enables specialty medical care at home for patients. We help manage acute or chronic illnesses at home while providing continuity of treating specialist’s attention without making frequent hospital visits.
 
Here is a detailed look at how our home healthcare service is different.
 

Doctor Driven Care

 
We assign dedicated Care Doctors to individual patients to monitor their condition, collaborate with treating specialist, and implement the specialist’s care protocol at home. The Care Doctor engages with patients through audio-video calls as well as physical visits. They also play a crucial role in minimizing complications and helping address clinical episodes at home.
 
The Care Doctors also take on the role of a care navigator helping the patient’s family understand the diagnosis, treatment approach, what to expect from the treatment, etc. They answer questions that the caregivers have and help families make informed decisions.
 

Patient Monitoring

 
We set up regular monitoring of patients who battle illnesses that progress with time. Our team of doctors and nurses monitor the patient’s vitals and other health complaints. These records are maintained in a digital format and share with the treating specialist as well.
 
The digital records help doctors identify any hidden patterns of how the illness is progressing, arrest the deterioration caused by the illness, and recognize early signs of distress.
 

Nursing & Caretaker Support

 
Many times, patients visit hospitals for nursing support like cleaning the feeding tube or catheter, getting the wound cleaned and dressed up again, etc. To reduce these visits, we provide nursing support to patients at home. Families can opt for 12 hours or 24 hours nursing support as per the patient’s
condition. Our nurses share the caregiving responsibilities of the family members, guide them through basic caring tasks, and help with patient monitoring. Our specialty nurses also provide nursing interventions under the supervision of a doctor in cases of complications.
 
We further offer caretaker support to caregivers who find it hard to care for acute illness patients all by themselves. Our caretakers help with personal hygiene of the patient, mobility, feeding, etc.
 

Clinical Specialty Collaboration

 
For certain patients, progression of the illness can cause onset of other issues like loss of cognitive abilities, functional mobility, nutrition deficit, etc. Addressing these issues may require the family to
have relevant specialists engage with the patient. While some of these specialists like a physiotherapist or a nutritionist may visit the patient at home, they may lack the understanding of the patient’s complete medical prognosis and treatment regime. This is where our digital ecosystem becomes crucial.
 
Ubiqare’s digital health platform creates a connected virtual space for all the clinical specialties working with a patient. The transparency and access to relevant patient information makes it easy for them to
collaborate with each other and drive better outcomes for the patient.
 

Care Coordination

 
Caring for a chronic illness patient can be exhausting. In addition to the physical tasks, there are other activities like lab tests and diagnostics, getting medicines, etc. that need to be coordinated. This sequencing and coordination of additional activities can further be stressful – especially if the caregiver is a senior citizen.
 
Our Care Executives step in to help caregivers arrange for additional services. In addition to lab tests and medicine deliveries, we help them rent medical equipment, get ambulance for hospital visit, etc.
 

Who Can Use Our Home Health Care Services?

 
Like mentioned earlier that we are not a teleconsultation service provider but an enabler of specialty medical care. We work with patients who are in a very complex medical situation. We mostly work with:
 

• Patients Who Require Long Term Care
   
  These are patients who struggle with complex illnesses like cancer, neurological conditions like stroke, multiple sclerosis, etc. These patients typically require medical support for an extended period of time.
   
• Patients Recovering From Surgery
   
  These are patients who struggle with mobility issues and need rehabilitation support for better recovery. For such patients, visiting hospital for specialist follow up or going to a rehabilitation center frequently is bothersome.
   
• Patients In Palliative Stage
   
  The illness for these patients has advanced to a stage where curative treatment would no longer work. Although such patients would not benefit from curative treatment, they do need medical support to help them deal with their symptoms. We work with them to provide medical support that reduces their pain, makes them comfortable, and helps maintain their quality of life.
   
• Elderly Patients with Multiple illnesses & Complications
   
  Elderly people who are plagued with multiple illnesses need support of multiple specialists collaborating with each other. Our digital care ecosystem simplifies this coordination. The presence of our Care Doctors who further collaborate with all the specialists creates an advantage for the elderly patients.
   
• Patients Who Require to be Treated Under Isolation
   
  Patients infected by high transmission infections like COVID often require to be treated under isolation.We work with such patients to extend the hospital specialist’s care at home where the patient has
  isolated.