senior living podcast

RCare CEO and founder Myron Kowal was the feature of a recent Bridge the Gap podcast. He spoke with hosts Joshua Crips and Lucas McCurdy about the origins of RCare, the history, challenges, triumphs, and the future of nurse call systems as it relates to the aging population, and the critical importance of response times in senior living.

Kowal observed that 20 years ago, when everyone had home telephones, the early PERS devices “would call somebody on the telephone and say, hey, this person needed help. The cool thing about that was it had a voice to voice connection so when that person did call for help, they knew someone was coming. It was like, okay, someone’s on the way. I’m gonna be okay.”

As technology improved, the voice-to-voice interaction went away. “When that person pressed the button, they weren’t sure that someone was coming. They would hope that someone was coming and most of the time they did.”

If residents wait too long for help, or even if it just feels like they’ve waited too long, they try to do things on their own, and risk getting seriously hurt.

RCare did a pilot project with Fellowship Square in Arizona using Amazon Alexa. (See “Alexa, please call my nurse.“) “They’re able to say, ‘Alexa, I need help.’ And that would call a caregiver. And we have a voice-to-voice connection that says, ‘A caregiver is on the way.’ It makes people feel like I’m okay. That panic that ensues when you’re in trouble can cause a lot of things to happen.”

According to Kowal, he’s on an “answer the call kick.” If residents wait too long for help, or even if it just feels like they’ve waited too long, they try to do things on their own, and risk getting seriously hurt. 

In addition to offering voice-to-voice options, RCare wants to help communities reduce their response times. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure. You need to look at the data, draw your own conclusions, make your improvements, and then measure your effectiveness.” 

RCare provides detailed metrics to communities, to help them understand what their response times are, what factors affect the length of those response times, and how they can be improved. “What are the mean and average response times to calls? How many calls are we getting? How many caregivers are actually logged into the system in a facility where this is the number of calls that we have as opposed that are logged into the system? We can see those things right now by taking a look at that data, and we’re trying to give it back to the industry so that they can make those improvements.”

Check out the full Bridge the Gap podcast here.

May 9, 2016 Rochester, NYRCare, a leader in innovative nurse call systems, announced today technical integration with PointClickCare, the leading cloud-based software platform for the senior care continuum.

This integration allows for resident and room information to be seamlessly synchronized between PointClickCare and RCare systems. The PointClickCare platform synchronizes with RCare when residents are admitted, discharged, or transferred, ultimately ensuring better staff coordination and efficiency.

By automating this process, RCare caregivers and administrators can be confident that the latest room information doesn’t need to be double checked. It is already in RCare, and free from data entry errors. When paired with RCare’s Advanced Location Protocol (ALP) technology, facilities can now pinpoint the exact pendant location, including floor number, and quickly associate the exact resident.

“PointClickCare’s electronic health record (EHR) is the industry standard in long­term care,” said Myron Kowal, RCare founder and CEO. “Our mutual customer base  requested this integration to avoid duplicative efforts and data entry time.”

Central to this integration is the fact that RCare is one of the only nurse call systems that has secured HIPAA compliance, verifying that patient data is private, protected and secure. This is critical when working in conjunction with any sort of patient health information.

“As part of our continued focus to ensure we are offering our customers the best tools to help them streamline their processes, we will be implementing RCare Mobile, the most advanced messaging platform. RCare Mobile will give care providers the ability to import time spent for response calls, caregiver and resident interactions, as well as other pertinent details regarding PointClickCare billing.”

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About RCare:

RCare is a provider of UL 1069 tested wireless nurse call and personal emergency response systems for the entire spectrum of eldercare and senior living. RCare components integrate into a variety of healthcare communication systems to create efficient and verifiable responses to medical emergencies. RCare works together with distribution partners to build individualized, flexible and seamless systems to enhance professional caregiving teams and their residents.

 

RCare Touted as Robust Solution by McKnight's Senior Living

McKnight’s Senior Living recently featured RCare in an article about innovative technologies that are improving care in senior communities. Called the “Strong, Silent Type,” the article focuses on the importance of resident comfort, safety and peace of mind. And it addresses the challenge of providing that security discreetly, and with respect for the dignity and independence of the residents.

How do communities accomplish this? And how do they manage it without burning out their staff with unrealistic expectations? The article had some very specific suggestions for technology and innovative industry leaders, including RCare. The innovations highlighted by the article help raise the level of care in senior living communities by offering comfort, safety and peace of mind, while preserving the independence and autonomy of the residents.

RCare's GeoPendant in McKnight's Senior LivingThe article spotlighted the RCare GeoPendant as an excellent example of a product that lets caregivers custom-define safe zones for residents who need them. “Seniors can move about the community freely, but if they move outside an individually customized safety zone, a discreet alert can be sent to specified caregivers.” This is especially important in mixed communities, where not all residents have the same needs, and the needs of any resident may change over time. “Because residents’ security and care needs differ and will continue evolving over time, security solutions providers also must develop flexible products to meet those changes.”

In fact, the GeoPendant was designed for mixed communities. It allows care staff to use the right tool for individual residents who can benefit from it. Meanwhile, it helps reduce the problem of alarm fatigue, an issue the article points out is becoming an increasing concern for communities. By integrating a wide variety of devices with their nurse call system, RCare avoids loud alarms, and instead alerts are sent to caregivers quietly, discreetly, and efficiently.

RCare’s GeoPendant allows operators to define customized areas that are safe for a resident, without using walls and locked doors.

The article also addressed the growing trend in wireless nurse call systems, and RCare is at the forefront, providing a full line of wireless systems. “Wireless solutions also continue to gain ground in the senior housing segment, a shift experts attribute to the ease of use and scalability of WiFi, which can allow operators to more easily cover their entire campuses.”

RCare RPhone in McKnight's Senior LivingAs RCare’s marketing director Mike Andolina pointed out, residents deserve privacy and health data protection. In order to be effective for communities, nurse call systems and their integrated devices also need to be HIPAA-compliant. “To help meet those requirements, RCare’s customized, locked-down RPhone offers all the key caregiver communication features needed to address resident needs, while excluding other features that could jeopardize privacy, such as camera, personal texts or social media access.” And that’s critical to communities, where HIPAA is a very real part of day-to-day operations. Communities want their staff to have the best tools available, but those tools have to meet the regulatory needs of the organization as well.

Read the whole article at www.mcknightsseniorliving.com.

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“The Summits have opened up new projects and our meetings have resulted in sales. We get at least two clients from each event,” said Myron Kowal, President, Response Care, a solution provider at marcus evans LTC & Senior Living CXO Summits.

untitled-1How many new clients does each Summit lead to?
We get at least two clients from each event. We continue to build our relationships to explore new opportunities.
All of our sales go through distributors, so although our marketing and sales efforts happen here, once they become projects we hand them over to one of our 48 distributors in the US to carry out.
It is difficult to draw straight lines between meetings and deals, so we could have closed more business as a result of our one-on-one meetings than we know.

Could you have met these companies if you had not attended a marcus evans Summit?
They are new opportunities. Perhaps I would have eventually met these companies, but by the time that happened, they may have chosen another product over ours.

How effective is the one-on-one meeting format?
It is terrific. In most cases, the executives we are paired with have a myron-headshotgenuine interest in our product and what we have to say, and their level of influence on the buying process is significant.

RCare returns from the MEDICA Trade Fair in Düsseldorf, Germany where RCare Mobile was officially introduced outside of the United States.  With RCare Mobile, long-term care facilities can provide their staff with all the functionality they require in an app-based call system. RCare Mobile provides all the smartphone features that caregivers need, and allows none of the features that put facilities at legal risk.  Winners of the Rochester Business Journal Award for Innovation; RCare is no stranger to bringing exciting new technologies to the world of nurse call systems.

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RCare is the first company to introduce a smartphone solution for their nurse call system.  Currently patent-pending, RCare Mobile revolutionizes the elder care market.  In 2015, the European Patent Office reported that no other tech sector submitted as many patent applications globally as the medical technology field.  Trine Bjerregaard Nyvang, the COO of Cekura, said, “We are pleased to offer RCare technology to our senior housing clients in Denmark. We have a reputation of implementing the latest and greatest in innovative and comprehensive technology, which made RCare’s Nurse Call, PERS and Proximity Location protocol the obvious choice.”  The elder care market is growing exponentially across the world and RCare promises to be at the forefront of this surge.

 

RCare Mobile provides caregivers with two-way communication, complete information, and the unique “I Got It” function that makes sure every call is answered, and without duplicate effort.  After recently expanding to Canada, Malaysia, and Denmark; MEDICA 2016 provided the perfect stage for RCare to show why they are the world’s most advanced nurse call system.  RCare met with representatives from 22 countries with a high degree of interest in representing RCare as a distributor.  Myron Kowal, President/CEO of RCare, says, “European demographics in elder populations far exceeds that of the US in terms of percentage of population.  Although culturally, families have been taking care of elderly in their own homes, the numbers will necessitate the use of modern technology just to keep up with demand.”

September 1st, 2016 Rochester, NY– We see and hear ‘Interoperability’, ‘Integrated’, and other buzzwords all the time, all different ways of saying systems are talking together. But what do these words actually mean? We’ll dive into what integrations actually are, how they happen, and when they matter and when they don’t.

About RCare:

RCare is a provider of UL 1069 tested wireless nurse call and personal emergency response systems for the entire spectrum of eldercare and senior living. RCare components integrate into a variety of healthcare communication systems to create efficient and verifiable responses to medical emergencies. RCare works together with distribution partners to build individualized, flexible and seamless systems to enhance professional caregiving teams and their residents.

 

August 4th, 2016 Rochester, NY– Certain things in Senior Living are expenses: the food, the medications, the personal care supplies. Other things are investments: a new addition, a renovation of the lobby, a new wellness plan. The difference is that your expenses are just required costs to running a business while investments create actual return on investment. The key to smart technology purchasing in senior living is to separate the expenses from the investments. Join us for 20 minutes to learn more about which technology platforms are creating maximum return on investment for leading communities.

About RCare:

RCare is a provider of UL 1069 tested wireless nurse call and personal emergency response systems for the entire spectrum of eldercare and senior living. RCare components integrate into a variety of healthcare communication systems to create efficient and verifiable responses to medical emergencies. RCare works together with distribution partners to build individualized, flexible and seamless systems to enhance professional caregiving teams and their residents.

 

Recently, the 7th annual Upstate NY Trade Conference was held by Greater Rochester Enterprise Inc. RCare had the esteemed privilege of being recognized as a Case Study on how Rochester companies can find a niche in the world market. RCare’s founder and CEO, Myron Kowal, was on hand to discuss how his recent expansion in to the European and Malaysian markets have given him insight in to his work stateside. Kowal said,
“Some of the products that we’ve developed for the European market and the Malaysian market are going to be applicable to the US market, and I think we’ll be able to get more market share; it’s helped us develop new products.”
   RCare’s global outreach started innocently enough as a Social Media inquiry. Cekura, a company from Denmark, reached out to RCare and started the conversation. RCare partnered with Towpath Group International LLC to assist in the expansion to foreign markets. Managing Director and CEO of Towpath, Dulce Zahniser, had this to say about RCare,
“With regard to RCare we really found the poster child of our perfect client. We really like to see a very strong commitment by senior management; Myron had a vision and he made it very clear to his staff.”
   The GRE Conference showed attendees how businesses similar to RCare can be successful in the international marketplace. Leah George, managing director for business development at GRE had this to say,
“With the assistance now available through Global NY, the Upstate NY Trade Conference has truly become a one-stop shop for business leaders. A process that would usually take weeks and hundreds of miles of travel can all be accomplished in one day at the conference.”
   The greater Rochester area is 2nd only to NYC in the number of yearly exports in New York. RCare is contributing to New York State’s place in the global marketplace.

July 8, 2016 Rochester, NY– At RCare, we’ve long focused on two things: improving the lives of caregivers and those who care for them. But senior living has financial realities that have to be accounted for. In this webinar, VP of North American Sales Greg Meade talks about how Independent and Assisted Living Communities can boost revenues by providing, recording, and billing for resident services.

About RCare:

RCare is a provider of UL 1069 tested wireless nurse call and personal emergency response systems for the entire spectrum of eldercare and senior living. RCare components integrate into a variety of healthcare communication systems to create efficient and verifiable responses to medical emergencies. RCare works together with distribution partners to build individualized, flexible and seamless systems to enhance professional caregiving teams and their residents.

 

RCare was delighted to be highlighted and called out for their advanced location protocol featured in a recent Nurse Call System research report by Grand View Research, a San Francisco-based market research and consulting firm.  

RCare Mobile's "I got it" feature on ensures caregiver accountability and lets multiple caregivers know who will be responding to any given alert.

RCare Mobile’s “I got it” feature on ensures caregiver accountability and lets multiple caregivers know who will be responding to any given alert.

Nurse Call System Market Worth $1.8 Billion By 2022: Grand View Research, Inc.

This study found that the global nurse call market is expected to reach 1.8 Billion USD by 2022. This number will be driven by reimbursement coverage reductions, hospital readmission penalties and the increased expectation for digital health in long term care.

RCare is a market leader with a global footprint throughout the United States, Europe and most recently in Asia with their latest Malaysian distribution partner.

The report singles out RCare for its innovative “I Got it” feature on the RCare Mobile and the Advanced Location Protocol (available for senior housing communities in the United States).

Wireless communication equipment is expected to witness rapid growth. With the increasing healthcare complexities, the need for integrated nurse call systems and electronic health records is driving the industry players to launch advanced solutions. InNovember 2015, RCare launched its G4 technology with Advanced Location Protocol (ALP) for senior living facilities. The “I Got It” button provides a state-of-the-art solution to allow staff to pinpoint locations with the aid of RCare pendant.”

Read the entire release