Safer, easier, better medication management

There is a clear problem to solve with studies¹ of Australian Home Care Package recipients revealing over 50% regularly taking antibiotics, a third are highly sedated and 10% are chronic opioid users. 12% had been hospitalised from falls and yet only 3% have received a medication review.  

“Over the last 3 years, there has been a step change in the use of electronic medication management in residential aged care. Our aged care partners have been requesting a solution to better manage medications in home care.” Said BESTMED CEO, Phil Offer.

The new draft standards 5.3 includes improved compliance for home care providers engaged in any aspect of medication management. The standard requires home care providers ‘involving any aspect of medication management’ to implement an effective system and processes for medication management. The increasing demand for home care services has highlighted the need for a robust, user-friendly medication management system that ensures the safety and well-being of home care recipients.

“Home Care providers are looking to improve medication safety for Australians receiving care in their homes with recent data showing significant prescribing of antibiotic and psychotropic medications in the sector. BESTMED for Home Care addresses this by improving transparency and ease for providers and care staff.”

As the Productivity Commission has commented, it’s a challenge to maximise the productivity of the care workforce ².  BESTMED for Home Care is designed to address this challenge whilst raising quality.  Integrating with the home care systems will prevent care workers from re-entering data and BESTMED is pleased to announce integrations with AlayaCare, CareLynx, CareVision and eCase.

“We have seen significant improvements that electronic medication management has had in residential aged care, especially in managing psychotropic medication usage, and now home care can benefit from those learnings,” said Phil.

“Whilst the challenges may appear similar, residential aged care and home care have different requirements. That’s why we have created a purpose-built app for carers to easily record administrations and manage escalations on the road.”

BESTMED for Home Care will be available for demonstration at the October ACCPA National Conference in Adelaide. The first Home Care providers have already signed up and providers can register their interest at https://bestmed.au/home-care-interest.

For further information about BESTMED for Home Care visit: https://bestmed.au/home-care/.

1. British Medical Journal: Quality and safety indicators for home care recipients in Australia 2022
2. https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/care-economy-won-t-boost-productivity-wood-20240717-p5juc0

As published in:

• Hello Leaders on 14 October 2024
• Pulse IT on 16 October
• Australian Ageing Agenda on 16 October 2024
• The Source on 17 October 2024