In Brief: Aetna Launches Smartphone Pilot; Northwestern Memorial Names New CEO
Aetna Launches Smartphone Pilot Project
Aetna's Medicaid plan in Illinois has begun a pilot project to equip homecare workers with smartphones.
The pilot, which is being conducted in conjunction with Addus Home Care and the Illinois Integrated Care Program, is expected to improve intervention times when a patient's medical condition is deteriorating. The home healthcare workers often spend hours of time feeding and bathing such patients, and therefore would be in the best position to determine their current physical state. Aetna manages the care for 18,000 such patients statewide.
“Through the mobile device, we can really put the home care aide on the health care team,” said Mark Heaney, Addus' chief executive officer. “Changes in an ICP participant’s condition can be communicated in real time, allowing for early identification and intervention by health plan case managers.”
A report on the program's results is expected later this year.
New Illinois Law Expands Life-Saving Powers Of Ambulance Crews
A new law in Illinois allows ambulance crews in rural areas to provide advanced life support even if they're designated to provide basic levels of care.
The law, which went into effect in late December, had bipartisan support. It is intended to improve outcomes for those experiencing severe medical emergencies in rural areas, where access to trauma centers and even regular hospitals can be constricted by long travel distances.
Northwestern Memorial Hospital Names New CEO
Northwestern Memorial Healthcare has named Richard J. “Rick” Gannotta, currently president of Duke Raleigh Hospital, as the new chief executive officer of 854-bed Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
A nurse practitioner by training, the 52-year-old Gannotta has spent a dozen years in the Duke University Medicine system, and served as Duke Raleigh's chief operating officer for six years before becoming its CEO in late 2012. He will assume the new job at Northwestern Memorial on Feb. 10. In addition to helming the hospital, he has also been named a senior vice president within the Northwestern Memorial Healthcare system.
"Rick is an accomplished healthcare executive who understands academic health systems like ours," said Northwestern Memorial Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Dean M. Harrison. "He has a track record for working collaboratively and achieving results. We expect Rick to play an important role in the leadership of Northwestern Medicine.”
