May 5, 2011
Head quartered in Salt Lake City, UT, Bristol Hospice provides a bridge in the continuum of care delivery system; focusing on the pain and symptom management related to end-of-life needs.
With a focus on providing a family centered approach in the delivery of hospice services throughout the communities. Bristol Hospice currently operates in Merced, California, Sacramento, California, Salt Lake City, Utah, Honolulu, Hawaii, and surrounding areas. Additional expansion of operations is planned for in the future as indicated.
The following interview was conducted in April 2011 with Ms. Christie Franklin, CEO at Bristol Hospice. The interview was a follow-up to check in and see how things were going. Back in December 2010 Ms. Franklin shared the following about her agencies implementation of CellTrak. “Everything about the CellTrak service has been positive since the moment we decided to move forward throughout the entire rollout of our first branch office. Our field staff as well as our leadership team all agree and are very glad that they are using this technology and are very positive about the results.”
Question 1:
Please introduce yourself, your background and your current role within Bristol Hospice:
Hello my name is Christie Franklin RN, BA, CHCE, President and CEO Bristol Hospice. I have over 25 years Homecare/Hospice Leadership experience. My background includes expertise in operational development of denovo and acquisitions in the homecare and hospice industry. In addition, my experience includes operational development with a focus on quality outcomes and benchmarks. In my career I have had the opportunity to serve on several homecare and hospice national committees and boards such as National Association Homecare and Hospice, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, National Quality Forum, HCAP.
Question 2:
Who is Bristol Hospice and where did it all begin?
Bristol Hospice development began in 2006. Bristol Hospices is a denovo start up company which now operates five locations in California, Utah, Hawaii and Georgia (new start up awaiting CHAP survey). All Bristol Hospice locations are licensed, as per state requirements, Medicare certified and accredited with deemed status thru Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP).
Question 3:
What do your clients want, need and desire?
Hospice services in a setting of choice which also meets the needs of the care continuum as indicated.
Question 4:
The American market for wireless home-based healthcare applications and services will grow. Why did Bristol Hospice become a leader in this area and move forward with CellTrak’s mobile application and platform?
Bristol Hospice’s strategic initiatives focus on the development of wireless home-based health care applications and services to promote efficiency, care coordination, and support to our leadership and care teams.
Question 5:
How does CellTrak’s mobile technology help the clients and the business needs at Bristol Hospice?
CellTrak provides support for both our care team coordination and scheduling, as well as back office functions such as payroll and billing information. In addition, Cell Trak provides leadership the ability to promote concurrent scheduling and care plan coordination to meet the needs of our patients and families when changes occur. The tight integration of CellTrak with Suncoast Solutions provides the best solution available to agencies today.
Question 6:
How do you see your business changing or developing in the next 5 years? Or what is the current roadmap for your agency?
Bristol Hospice’s strategic initiatives focus on the use of technology to improve care coordination, support leadership and care teams, provide concurrent data for quality assurance and improvement and promote efficiency which back office functions. These strategic initiatives are the road map for Bristol Hospice. The business changes and developments over the next five years will be focused on quality, care coordination and the increased use of technology to promote these initiatives.
Question 7:
Explain a typical day in the life of a homecare agency using CellTrak technologies.
The use of CellTrak first allows for careplan and schedule updates to occur throughout the day. The CellTrak also provides the agency staff support in reporting visit mileage, timesheet, and documentation daily. The use of CellTrak in both rural and urban markets is an added support for the care team. It particularly supports the team when schedule changes occur during the day to promote coordination in the care delivery.
Question 8:
Many healthcare technology and IT organizations talk about change management during many new technology rollouts… and how “people”, not “technology”, can be the major reason implementations are unsuccessful or delivered over budget or not on time. How did it all go when Bristol Hospice implemented CellTrak?
The implementation of CellTrak in Bristol Hospice location first began as a pilot project. Immediate and ongoing feedback was positive by all hospice team members involved in the project. The support, education, and tools provided by CellTrak allowed for a very successful implementation. The major reason for the successful implementation was due to the CellTrak product and tools. The implementation was lead by a designated Team focused on the project. In reviewing the successful outcome of the CellTrak implementation, Bristol Hospice leadership was very pleased with the feedback from all team members regarding the easy of CellTrak implementation.
Question 9:
Explain the hospice market in America, and the core products and services that are in demand from hospice providers today:
The hospice market in America today is focused on the care delivery of patients and families in their setting of choice in both rural and urban markets. This would include patients that may reside in the home or other settings of their choice. Hospice services are delivered by the multidisciplinary team for care and services based on a patient’s individualized plan of care related to end of life.
Question 10:
How will your business expand in the coming 5 years and will CellTrak play a role in that expansion?
Bristol Hospice anticipates further development to provide hospice services in current and new markets as identified. Over the next five years, our business anticipates further development and focus in the care continuum, quality, and coordination due to health reform. In addition, Bristol Hospice has developed strategic initiatives to focus on supporting new health reform initiatives such as concurrent care models. As Bristol Hospice continues to implement these initiatives CellTrak is an important to our operational model and roll out for services. CellTrak will support the company’s focus on care plan coordination, quality initiatives, back office efficiency for billing and payroll, support to our care teams.
For more information on Bristol Hospice LLC please visit www.bristolhospice.com
Bristol Hospice LLC
255 East 400 South Suite 200
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
USA
(801) 596-8844