BELOIT, Wis. (Aug. 2, 2023) — Lauren Davis and her Beloit business, Davis Clinical Consulting, have created a solution to the glaring dispariti
es seen in a
ssessment standards at assisted-living facilities.
FASTMedical was founded in 2021 and is available through Davis Clinical Consulting. The goal of FASTMedical software is to standardize an assessment model based on the individual patient’s circumstances and then put it into a single score. This process benefits our most vulnerable friends and neighbors among the patients and care staff, who need somebody to be their voice.
The Functional Assessment Screening Tool software is supported by the 20 nurses on the consulting company’s team. There are 300 patients and almost 50 facilities in Wisconsin that already benefit from the financial transparency of the software.
In the current regulation, an assessment is completed upon admission, at every change of condition, after a hospital visit, and annually. It might not even be a nurse conducting those assessments. With this repetitive set of processes causing frustration and issues, both patients and facilities will benefit from using FASTMedical software.
The goal of FASTMe
dical is, and will always be, to serve the patient. Hospitals are requiring assisted living facilities to take on more clinical accountability for patients as nursing homes are closing and decreasing in size. With FASTMedical, facilities will be set up for success and, most importantly, will be able to meet the care for their patients.
“There was a demand to create something that was easy, to the point, with no fluff,” Davis said. “Often, the software is overdeveloped by an IT department. A majority of software is not utilized to its full potential because there’s just so much to it. FASTMedical will help minimize subjectivity for patient payment to the facility.”
With no standardized process in place for the assessment process or to give a recommended staffing pattern, this leads to poor outcomes for patients. FASTMedical identifies gaps in the currently flawed system and supports the underserved population in need of Medicaid/Managed Care Organization services, as normal insurance doesn’t cover assisted living.
There has also been a lack of awareness and no standardized process for assessments of patients. Consequently, there are limited opportunities for facilities to negotiate reimbursement rates based on individual patient care needs and staffing requirements to meet those needs.
“Some facilities have seen a discrepancy greater than $100 per day per patient with similar care needs. This is happening statewide; there’s just no equity,” Davis said.
This revolutionary software alone can help make an assisted living facility run smoother, help the leadership staff appropriately based on patients’ care needs, and help be fair and transparent to family members. It allows facilities to update this assessment and be more transparent on their scoring model and monthly base charges.
The FASTMedical scoring system rates four categories that are scored and weighted based on the amount of staff time needed to complete each individualized service plan’s need:
• Activity of Daily Living Support
• Medications and Treatments
• Health Monitoring
• Cognition and Safety
Each facility completes an intake questionnaire to identify clinical capabilities. These clinical capabilities allow auto-triggers to alert staff when the care needs of residents are outside of the facility’s scope of practice and require alternate placement, additional training, or manual troubleshooting suggestions.
Assessments can be completed by a third-party evaluator that would allow for unbiased resident assessments looking at both staff and/or resident interviews and would include a comprehensive medical record review.
“FASTMedical strives to be affordable to all assisted-living centers, no matter the size. If every facility used our trusted and proven assessment tool and process, they would help improve efficiency in healthcare and better serve their patients and residents,” Davis said.
