NCET Biz Tips: Prominence Care Centers leverages technology to improve patient care

NCET helps you explore business and technology

Amid a global health crisis and as the Medicare open enrollment period approaches, Prominence Health Plan continues to provide Nevadans with more access to health care through its two innovative Prominence Care Centers. Located in Reno and Carson City, the care centers opened in 2019 and are part of the organization’s shift to preventative care.

Through integration of claims data and health history of a member, the health plan better aligns with the providers at the care centers to provide personalized and higher quality care. Each location uses data and technology to address healthcare complexities and when the COVID-19 pandemic began, they quickly adapted to offer virtual care.

These facilities are a part of the Vera Whole Health network, a national organization aiming to improve the quality of care at the doctor’s office and are available exclusively to Prominence Health Plan Medicare Advantage members and some employer-sponsored groups. The care centers operate by appointment only and place a high priority on each patient’s overall wellbeing. First-time appointments can last up to an hour, during which the medical team collects information on the whole health history of a patient.

That information, along with member health history and wellness surveys, is used to determine what preventative care is necessary for the individual member. The facilities have also integrated on-site point of care testing, which means patients can receive results and care faster. Some of the advanced technology used at the care centers includes:

Sunlight MiniOmni

The Sunlight MiniOmni™ bone sonometer enables affordable, reliable, accurate, non-invasive, and safe monitoring or early assessment of osteoporosis.

RetinaVue® 100 Imager

As the world’s most advanced handheld retinal camera, the RetinaVue 100 Imager makes retinal exams affordable and straightforward for primary healthcare providers.

QuantaFlo™ PAD

Up to 18 million Americans have Peripheral Artery Disease, and half of those cases are undiagnosed. PAD can increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, hospitalization, or death by 21% within one year. The QuantaFlo™ PAD test delivers accurate results in about five minutes.

ID NOW: The Fastest Rapid Molecular Flu Test.

The ID NOW™ Influenza A & B 2 assay delivers molecular flu results in 13 minutes or less, making it significantly faster than other molecular methods and more accurate than conventional rapid tests.

ALERE AFINION™ AS100 ANALYZER

The Alere Afinion™ AS100 Analyzer provides a simple, fast, and reliable way to monitor patients’ disease progression, allowing for quicker protocol modifications.

With the results provided by these technologies and others, health care providers at Prominence Care Centers can organize and plan a specific care approach that meets the needs of each patient. In this way, the care management team can leverage analytics to tackle the challenges of managing care and offer a more personal approach to wellness and chronic disease management.

Join NCET’s virtual Tech Wednesday from 4:00–5:30 p.m. on Sept. 9 for a discussion and tour of a Prominence Care Center to learn more about how their point of care model addresses the whole patient experience from testing and medication refills to screening tools and analytics. For more info, visit www.NCETwed.org

Dave Archer is president/CEO of NCET, which produces educational and networking events to help people explore business and technology. (www.NCET.org)