Netsmart, an industry-leading provider of healthcare information technology (HIT) for community-based care providers, and VNS Health, a top provider of post-acute care services and value-based models of care across New York, have announced a collaboration aimed at transforming end-of-life care through the utilization of machine learning and predictive analytics. The partnership, which leverages innovative technology and clinical expertise, prioritizes patient visit scheduling, supports patient and family experience, and targets quality measures for Hospice Visits in the Last Days of Life (HVLDL).

As one of the nation’s largest nonprofit home and community-based health care organizations, VNS Health is dedicated to providing compassionate care and treatment options for individuals in need of home care, including those facing serious illness. Recognizing the critical importance of timely, personalized care, this new partnership will give Netsmart clients, and the broader hospice provider industry, access to VNS Health’s predictive analytics for HVLDL, which are now built into the Netsmart myUnity® electronic health record (EHR) platform. The ONC-certified myUnity solution unifies care settings into a single patient record and integrates the capabilities needed to support value-based payment models into a single platform.

“At VNS Health, we work hard to make health care simple to understand, easy to access and meaningful in outcomes for everyone we serve,” said VNS Health President and CEO Dan Savitt. “We are proud to be an industry leader in developing evidence-based predictive analytics models that aim to dramatically improve people’s lives. Our partnership with Netsmart helps us scale this innovation for wider impact and supports purposeful conversations about end-of-life care between clinicians, patients and their loved ones.”

VNS Health’s exclusive HVLDL algorithm is designed to examine each hospice patient's case history and pinpoint key clinical indicators occurring within a seven-day period. This custom machine learning model was trained using more than 1.9 million health records from nearly 10,000 historical patients.¹ Its data-driven platform supports more precise, evidence-based care recommendations to help providers deliver the right care at the right time for hospice patients in the last days of life, and has already helped VNS Health outpace state² and national averages and improve HVLDL quality measures by 61%.³

The HVLDL initiative adds to a growing portfolio of augmented intelligence (AI), machine learning and robotic process automation (RPA) within the Netsmart CareFabric® platform, allowing for greater automation in healthcare delivery. The Netsmart suite of AI and automation technologies aim to enhance clinical decision-making and operational efficiency, enabling providers to deliver even more effective and personalized care.

“AI and advanced automation are having an incredible impact on the way we think about solving today’s challenges and opportunities—it's all progressing at an astonishing rate,” said Netsmart CEO Mike Valentine. “Our core strategy focuses on augmented intelligence, providing tools that support staff and clinicians in delivering effective care. Together with VNS Health, we will continue to expand augmented intelligence solutions with additional predictive models to drive efficiency in palliative, home care and hospice communities.”

Moving forward, Netsmart and VNS Health remain committed to leveraging technology and data-driven insights to further support end-of-life care and enhance the quality of life for patients and their families.

About VNS Health

Innovating in health care for more than 130 years, our commitment to health and well-being is what drives us—we help people live, age, and heal where they feel most comfortable, in their own homes, connected to their family and community. Powered and informed by data analytics that are unmatched in the home and community-health industry, VNS Health offers a full range of health care services, solutions and health plans designed to simplify the health care experience and meet the diverse and complex needs of those we serve in New York and beyond. For more information visit vnshealth.org.

About Netsmart

Netsmart is an industry-leading healthcare technology organization empowering providers to deliver value-based care to the individuals and communities they serve. The Netsmart CareFabric^® platform serves as a unified, connected framework of solutions and services for human services, post-acute, payer and public sector communities. Together with our clients and Marketplace vendors, we develop and deliver innovative technology, including electronic health records (EHRs), interoperability, analytics, augmented intelligence (AI), population health management and telehealth solutions and services that assist organizations in transforming the care they deliver. The result has helped make a positive impact on the lives of more than 147 million individuals.

For more than 55 years, Netsmart has helped provider organizations in their efforts to improve the health and wellbeing of the communities we collectively serve. To learn more, visit ntst.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook or X.

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¹ Solution developed by VNS Health Business Intelligence and Analytics team on an evidence-based Machine Learning (ML) algorithm. VNS Health Case Study: "Improving HVLDL Performance by 61% with Predictive Analytics." https://www.vnshealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/VH-PSHVL-0424_HVLDL_CaseStudy_pgs.pdf.

² Home Care Association of New York State “State of the Industry 2022”. https://infogram.com/2022-hcastate-of-the-industry-report-1h8n6m3kj1ovj4x.

³ Outcomes achieved since adoption of Mortality Risk Dashboard across all VNS Health hospice care teams from the beginning of 2023 to April 2024.

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