How Cadence benefits clinicians
In the latest episode of Cadence Conversations, we had a chance to sit down with two clinicians who are using Cadence with their patients and describe how our RPM solution is benefiting them, as well as benefiting their patients.
Cadence Conversations is a podcast from Cadence, featuring clinicians, healthcare executives, as well as tech entrepreneurs discussing their experiences driving innovation and progress. Previous episodes of Cadence Conversations include Rob Jay, CEO of ScionHealth discussing the hospital system's partnership with Cadence, Dr. David Shulkin, 9th Secretary, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs discussing the future of remote patient monitoring (RPM), and Dr. Toby Cosgrove, former President and CEO of Cleveland Clinic and currently an Executive Advisor to a number of startups, discussing how to ensure effective partnerships between health systems and technology companies.
This latest episode began by featuring an interview with Dr. Ailisa Smith from FryeCare Generations Family in Hickory, North Carolina. Dr. Smith began using Cadence earlier this year and has had a positive experience working with Cadence's team and utilizing our technology. Among the various benefits she is experiencing, Dr. Smith described how Cadence is saving her and her office time and actually decreasing her workload.
"With my aging patient population, the ability to be able to have a peek into their lives at home and to have somebody that I communicate with through our EMR who is actually reaching out to these patients when there is an issue, it saves my office staff time and it saves me time," she shared.
Cadence partners directly with clinicians and serves as an extension of their practice. Regular telehealth visits with Cadence clinicians provide patients with another layer of medical support when at home. Cadence also facilitates interactions between clinicians and their patients as needed. A common misconception is that Cadence will create additional burden or administrative work for clinicians. Dr. Smith states exactly the opposite, saying Cadence has actually helped to decrease the number of phone calls and messages for her and her staff.
"I can honestly say that Cadence has not created any extra work for me," she shares. "It has decreased my work. It has decreased phone calls that are coming into my office, phone messages that we're having to take off for patients that are having issues with blood pressure. Honestly, throughout the COVID pandemic, we've been short staffed and it was not infrequent that I was sitting at our triage phone and honestly taking messages off that triage phone at the end of my workday. Those are greatly decreased because we're not getting phone calls coming in from some of these concerned patients. So it has certainly reduced my workload."
Another frequent misconception is that clinicians will lose a degree of control over their patients. However, Dr. Smith also addressed this concern, describing how Cadence works in conjunction with clinicians and serves as an extension of their practice at every stage of the patient care process.
"Patients sometimes ask me if somebody else is going to be managing their care through Cadence and my answer to them is always absolutely not," Smith said. "I work in conjunction with the [Cadence] nurse practitioner and any changes that are made in their blood pressure regimen or their diabetic regimen are with my approval. If there are issues where things need to be escalated, I'm always contacted. So we are certainly kept up to date on the changes that are made and we always have the ability when we are given notification of the changes to reach out to the patient on our own if we so choose. So I still feel like I am 100% in control of my patients’ care."
Following Dr. Smith's commentary, this episode also featured a second interview with Twilla Walker, a Family Nurse Practitioner at FryeCare Cardiology in Hickory, North Carolina. Just like Dr. Smith, Twilla has also had a positive experience working with Cadence and has seen many of the same benefits, both for herself as well as for her patients. She began working with Cadence in February of this year.
Twilla discussed the positive feedback that she is hearing from her patients, knowing that they can be monitored remotely from home. "I get really good feedback from the patients knowing that they can be monitored remotely from home," she said. "They also feel like they have an accountability because they know that they're going to need to be taking their medications because somebody is watching them which is also a win-win for all of us, because they're going to be able to stay out of the hospital hopefully, and come to the office less frequently."
In one instance, according to Twilla, a patient had low blood pressure but did not feel sick enough to have to go to the emergency room. A Cadence nurse practitioner was able to work with Twilla to change the patient's medications and prevent them from having to go to the emergency room.
Knowing that Cadence is constantly monitoring her patients and helping to titrate medications has put Twilla at ease. "I feel more at ease because between the Cadence team and I, we can titrate these medications that they need towards guideline directed medical therapy and that helps me rest because I know that sometimes there are going to be side effects and worse problems when you are initiating these medications, but now they're being watched."
Twilla said Cadence has been a win-win for her and also for her patients. "Cadence is worth checking out. It's been a win-win for me. It's been a win-win for my patients. It's great for everybody," she shared.
If you're interested in learning more information about Cadence and how to get involved, visit Cadence.care and please get in touch with our team.
Listen to the entire podcast episode above and be sure to subscribe to Cadence Conversations wherever you get your podcasts to listen to future episodes.
Read the full transcript of the conversation below:
Episode Transcript
Introduction: Welcome to Cadence Conversations, where we're talking with prominent physicians, healthcare leaders and tech entrepreneurs about their experiences driving innovation and progress.
This week, we had a chance to sit down with two clinicians who are using Cadence with their patients. We wanted to learn more about how our Remote Patient Intervention solution is benefiting them, as well as benefiting their patients.
First up, you will hear from Dr. Ailisa Smith from FryeCare Generations Family in Hickory, North Carolina. Dr. Smith started using Cadence earlier this year. She will tell you more about the great experience she's had working with Cadence's team and utilizing our technology.
If you're a clinician interested in learning more about Cadence's RPM program or considering using our technology with your own patients, you won't want to miss this conversation. So let's get to this week's Cadence Conversation.
How Cadence's Remote Patient Monitoring Technology Helps Heart Failure Patients and Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
Dr. Ailisa Smith: Hi, everybody. My name is Dr. Ailisa Smith. I work at FryeCare Generations in Hickory, North Carolina.
I've been in family practice now for 14 years, and in accordance with that, I have a very aging patient population. So as far as trying to make sure that they are taken care of in the best possible manner, it's a struggle sometimes with the demand to get patients in here and make sure that their blood pressure is under control and their diabetes is under control every 3 to 4 months. And as far as trying to get patients in the door, we have a difficult time often even getting phone calls returned to patients. And in a system where there are phone trees and sometimes there's difficulty getting through and also just my schedule availability, it's a real struggle this day and time to make sure that I'm doing the best I can for my patients and that they are actually happy with their care.
Cadence was first presented to us earlier this year, and it was presented to us as a remote patient monitoring system for our aging patients, our Medicare population, monitoring of blood pressure, congestive heart failure patients. And this was a way that we would be able to see vital signs on our patients and have outreach to those patients if there were issues.
To me, honestly, when it was presented, it was a no brainer. With my aging patient population, the ability to be able to have a peek into their lives at home and to have somebody that I communicate with through our EMR who is actually reaching out to these patients when there is an issue, it saves my office staff time. It saves me time.
I'm communicated with about the things that are happening to my patients, and my patients could feel like they were getting taken care of at home even when they were not inside my office. But they knew that this person that was reaching out to them was in contact with me so it wasn't somebody in place of me. It was somebody who was working with me to take care of them.
I'm very happy with Cadence. The patients feel like they're got an extra pair of eyes besides mine. And so with this, if a patient wakes up and takes their blood pressure and it's elevated, that triggers a phone call from a nurse practitioner who works with me to talk to the patient and figure out what needs to be done.
Enrollment with Cadence has been so simple. I will see a patient, and maybe in the last 2 minutes of the encounter, if I feel they're appropriate for the program, I'll give them a little snippet of what Cadence is and how the nurse practitioner works with me to help us make sure that their blood pressure is under control or their blood sugars. From my standpoint. I'm moving on. I'm seeing patients. I simply deliver them to the enroller and my appointment with them is done. We're able to capture that in that moment and keep that patient from having to go to the E.R. unnecessarily.
How Cadence Reduces Clinical Burdens and Decreases Workloads for Clinicians
I can honestly say that Cadence has not created any extra work for me. It has decreased my work. It has decreased phone calls that are coming into my office, phone messages that we're having to take off for patients that are having issues with blood pressure or I'm sure soon to come, blood sugars.
Honestly, throughout the COVID pandemic, we've been short staffed and it was not infrequent that I was sitting at our triage phone and honestly taking messages off that triage phone at the end of my workday. Those are greatly decreased because we're not getting phone calls coming in from some of these concerned patients. So it has certainly reduced my workload.
How Cadence Works in Conjunction With Clinicians to Help Keep Patients Healthy and Avoid Unnecessary Emergency Room Visits
Patients sometimes ask me if somebody else is going to be managing their care through Cadence. And my answer to them is always absolutely not. I work in conjunction with the nurse practitioner and any changes that are made in their blood pressure regimen or their diabetic regimen are with my approval. If there are issues where things need to be escalated, I'm always contacted. So we are certainly kept up to date on the changes that are made and we always have the ability when we are given notification of the changes, to reach out to the patient on our own if we so choose. So I still feel like I am 100% in control of my patients’ care.
With Cadence on board, I feel like my patients are being triaged in a way that I wasn't able to do before. I could have patients present to the E.R. with elevated blood pressures. And I had no idea, unfortunately, what was going on until I got the the note from the E.R. and with Cadence, these folks are being captured before they end up presenting to the E.R., because we're seeing those elevated blood pressures and we're able to get a phone call out to them.
People often ask me what I tell my patients and how I get them on board with Cadence. So when I've got folks in my office that have a multitude of health problems, especially my aging patient population, my pitch is: Let me let you talk to our enroll or about Cadence. This is a remote monitoring system that allows me to keep a closer eye on you when you are not in my office. It gives me a weekly account of your weight and your blood pressures and your blood sugars, if so needed, and I see these things every week, and if there's an issue, you get a phone call from somebody who works directly with me. And if we need to adjust something, it doesn't mean you have to try to call me and get through my office and leave a message and have an appointment. You have somebody that's going to reach out to you if there's an issue, and she will let me know that she's reaching out to you. So I make sure that I emphasize the fact that there is contact with me throughout this process.
I have had colleagues ask me about Cadence and my best advice to them is give it a try. I certainly did, and I've had nothing but good experiences with Cadence. The enrollers are wonderful at teaching the patients. I think people really just need to have an open mind and give it a try, and after only a few weeks, they'll probably see the benefit from the standpoint of patient care. And also the decrease in and probably triage and phone calls that they're getting from folks that is being handled by Cadence.
Patients Describe the Benefits of Working With Cadence
Thank you Dr. Smith, for sharing your experience and describing all the positive benefits you are experiencing from working with Cadence. Next up, you will hear from Twila Walker, a nurse practitioner who works at FryeCare Cardiology, also in Hickory, North Carolina. Twilla has been working with Cadence since February, and also had nothing but positive things to share about her experience. Take a listen.
Twila Walker: Hi there, everyone. My name is Twila Walker. I'm a nurse practitioner here at FryeCare Cardiology. My role here is to help manage our heart failure patients. They do struggle with managing their condition so we do have to help them learn about their medications, learn how to manage themselves at home.
It is hard to keep up with the everyday workload. I often have to get phone calls and help them over the phone with their blood pressures and extra weight that they might put on, and then answer questions about their medications.
I've been working with patients with Cadence since about February. The experience I have here with Cadence has been wonderful. The enrollment process is very easy. I can give a brief description to the patient about what's going to take place. And then the Cadence team is right there to take it all out of my hands.
I can communicate with the team, the Cadence team, very easily. They notify me if there are issues with their blood pressure medications, or there any other heart failure medications, or if we need to get labs done, and they're actually able to order that for me and that takes a load off me.
I get really good feedback from the patients knowing that they can be monitored remotely from home. They also feel like they have an accountability because they know that they're going to need to be taking their medications because somebody is watching them which is also a win-win for all of us, because they're going to be able to stay out of the hospital hopefully, and come to the office less frequently.
There have been times, and I remember a specific time, when a patient had a very low blood pressure. And they didn't want to have to go to the hospital just for very low blood pressure because they were feeling okay, but basically feeling pretty good, but not great. And the nurse at Cadence discontinued one of the medications for a short time, and then she notified me that that's what they did. And we were able to keep them from having to go to the emergency room.
Cadence Helps to Put Clinicians' Minds at Ease By Serving as a Second Pair of Eyes
I feel more at ease because between the Cadence team and I, we can titrate these medications that they need towards guideline directed medical therapy and that helps me rest because I know that sometimes there are going to be side effects and worse problems when you are initiating these medications but now they're being watched.
I tell my patients that this is going to benefit them because they're going to be monitored and they're going to know how to deal with the blood pressure reading that they might get that day if it's abnormal, then they're going to say, well, we can call Cadence, you know, instead of, well, what do I do with this?
Why Clinicians Should Consider Using Cadence
So I think it's very helpful. That's what I usually tell them, that it's definitely going to benefit them. And it helps me too to kind of know that they're not all sounds are being monitored closely.
I would tell my colleagues that it's worth checking out, Cadence is worth checking out. It's been a win-win for me. It's been a win-win for my patients. It's great for everybody.
Thanks again to Ailisa and Twila for sharing their experiences with us. If you're a clinician who's thinking about using Cadence with your own patients, hopefully this conversation gave you some helpful insights about the benefits you can expect personally, as well as for your patients.
If you're interested in learning more information about Cadence and how to get involved, visit Cadence.care and please get in touch with our team.
To make sure you get updates on our future conversations, please subscribe to Cadence Conversations wherever you listen to podcasts. At Cadence, we believe that everyone deserves to receive the best care possible and we won't stop working until that vision becomes reality.
