2022 Discovery Hospital At Home – October Newsletter

2022 Discovery Hospital At Home

Delivering hospital-level care safely and effectively in your home

2022 Discovery Hospital At Home: In 2022, Discovery Health members will get access to Discovery Hospital At Home, delivering hospital-level care safely and effectively in your home for a number of medical and surgical conditions.

In 2020, Discovery Health launched Connected Care for acute care at home. During 2021, over 100 Discovery Health members were successfully treated for Covid-19 in their homes with similar or improved outcomes and better patient experience. Learning from this, Discovery Health has now built the capability and capacity to deliver hospital-level care in the homes of over 750 patients at any point in time across South Africa for an expanded list of medical and surgical conditions.

Discovery Health Medical Scheme members admitted to Hospital at Home access enhanced benefits and services, delivered through their personalised care team. All services offered as part of Discovery’s Hospital at Home programme are funded from the member’s hospital benefit, and require pre-authorisation, in lieu of hospitalisation. This unlocks risk-based funding for approved devices and healthcare services for those who meet the clinical and benefit criteria. Discovery At Home includes clinical oversight, remote monitoring and hospital care.

Hospital Care:

• Current hospital-level interventions: medicine, home oxygen, phlebotomy, emergency services, intravenous therapy, wound care.
• Enhanced hospital-level interventions in 2022: suture and staple removals, stoma care, urinary catheter care, tracheostomy care, total parenteral nutrition.
• Enhanced hospital-level diagnostics in 2022: ECG in the home.
• Value-Added Benefits and S.rvices in 2022: vaccinations, spirometry, urinalysis POC, urine culture sample, Covid-19 testing, pap smear, clinically appropriate screening services.

Remote Monitoring:

• Remote monitoring devices: members will have access to one of two risk-funded remote devices from Biofourmis, depending on their condition and subject to approval.
• The member will register on a secure dashboard that includes patient diaries, notifications and alerts, online consultations and chat facility, and access to data by the healthcare providers.
• The patient companion keeps the patient informed with alerts and reminders and is used for online consultations.

Clinical oversight:

Patients currently have access to:

• Online consultations with physician,
• Online or face-to-face consultations with GP,
• Face-to-face nurse consultations,
• 24/7 remote monitoring in a clinical command centre,
• Online and face-to-face consultations with allied healthcare profressionals.

In 2022 the patient will have access to additional services, subject to approval, including:

• Transport: ambulance or Uber transport home from hospital, or to and from hospital if testing is required in hospital.
• Daily meals: if members have specific dietary requirements and no in-home support, they will have access to daily meal delivery. The care team will monitor selections to ensure dietary requirements or restrictions are met.
• Discharge planning: personalised plans will include delivery of discharge medication, collection of oxygen concentrators, scheduling follow up diagnostic tests and doctor’s appointments, navigation of scheme benefits and enrolment on management programs.
• 24-hour carer: for elderly members or those requiring additional support, access to a fulltime carer will be provided to assist with activities of daily living.

The Patient Journey

In 2022, the Hospital At Home system will work as follows:

• Patient presents at casualty and is diagnosed with a condition treatable at home,
• Doctor refers to Hospital At Home and completes paperwork,
• Transport home is provided if required,
• Discovery HomeCare nurse meets the patient at home and goes through the set up,
• Patient’s condition is monitored via devices or HomeCare nurse,
• Consultations and blood (or other) tests are arranged and monitored as required,
• When applicable the patient is discharged from Discovery At Home and the HomeCare nurse goes through the discharge plan with any ongoing medication and arrangement of follow up consultations.

Digital Vaccination Card

Through Discovery’s Vaccination Navigator, you can obtain a PDF download of your digital vaccination card.

Go to https://digitalhealth.discovery.co.za/

Log in with the same details you use to log into Discovery’s website. Click on “COVID-19 Vaccination Navigator”

On your first visit to this section, you may be asked to upload a picture of yourself.

If you have been vaccinated at a Discovery centre, your vaccination details may have already pulled through onto the system. You will still have to upload a photo of your physical vaccination card that was completed and signed at the vaccination centre, to complete the process. Your digital card will be available to download about 48 hours after you have loaded the photo for your second dose.

If you were vaccinated elsewhere, uploading the photo of your physical card is required, and within 48 hours or so, Discovery’s system will be updated with the details and you can download your digital card.

If you are a Vitality member, you will receive 2500 points for being fully vaccinated, so ensure that the system is updated to reflect your vaccination status.

You can also get your government digital vaccination card by visiting the website https://vaccine.certificate.health.gov.za/

You will need your ID or passport number, the code you were sent by SMS when you were vaccinated, and the phone you used to register on the government site (as an OTP is sent to you by SMS before you can download your digital certificate).

Plan Assessment

To help your consultant assist you with making a plan choice, you need to know the following about your claims history.

• If you currently have a plan with Savings, when do you run out of Saving (what month of the year) and what do you spend your Savings on (doctors, medication, dental work, etc).
• Do you have any Chronic conditions that require monthly medication, testing or consultations?
• Do you have a regular GP that you consult and is he/she part of Discovery’s network?
• Do you have children that would require the hospitals you use to have a paediatric wing?
• Are you planning to have a particular procedure in the next 12 months that would require a certain hospital or access to certain medical professionals?
• Are you planning a pregnancy in the next 12 months?
• Do you prefer to see people face-to-face or would you be happy with phone or video consultations?

Have the answers to these questions with you if you want to consult about the best plan for you and your family.

To keep up with the above factors, there must be an increase each year. Delaying this to later in the year can provide some relief for members, while still protecting the sustainability of the medical scheme.

Vitality Active Rewards

To get your weekly active rewards, please remember to sync your device at least weekly. Many devices need to be prompted to sync to the corresponding app, and only after syncing will the device app sync with Discovery to send through the data required. Vitality’s Active Rewards week is Saturday to Friday, and the data must be synced by latest the following Tuesday to be included for your rewards calculation. Set a weekly reminder on your phone, to make sure your data is synced correctly.

Make sure you check out the rewards specials that pop up from time to time. For example, currently you can get a Pick n Pay citrus reusable shopping bag for 150 Discovery Miles (DM). There are also rewards that pop up when you achieve your exercise goals, such as a Total Sports or Sportsmans Warehouse R250 voucher for 150DM (R15). You will also see your current discount on the system, based on your Discovery products, and those over age 65 qualify for bigger discounts if they have had their Vitality Health Check.

Vitality Gym special

Vitality members who are not currently gym members, can activate the gym membership through Vitality this month, with no activation fee and no monthly membership fees until 2022. This applies to Vitality, Vitality Active and Vitality Purple members who have not previously activated the gym benefit. A 12 month contract with the gym is required, and the member may need to pay an access device or card/tag fee.

Vitality Tips on Earning Points

Start your Vitality points journey by Knowing Your Health:

• Complete the Vitality Age online questionnaire (1500 points)
• Complete your Health Check at a pharmacy (up to 22 500 points), or complete a Virtual Health Check (2500 points)
• Complete other assessments, checks or vaccinations according to your gender and age:
  • 2500 points for pap smear, mammogram, colonoscopy and glaucoma.
  • 7500 points for your first HIV test and 1000 points each year thereafter.
  • 1000 points for dental check up.
  • 1000 points for a flu vaccination and 2500 for a Covid-19 vaccination.
  • 7500 additional points for members age 65+.

Understand your Mental Wellbeing

Complete two mental health assessments per year, earning 500 points each, 6 months apart.

Eat Well

Earn up to 12 000 points per year (max 1000 pm) for healthy food items purchased from Pick n Pay or Woolworths, and earn 1000 points for a dietician consultation.

Get Active

Earn up to 300 points a day for doing various physical activities, depending on the activity and your linked device, to a maximum of 30 000 points per year. Earn further points by completing a Fitness Assessment, depending on your fitness level.

Points required for Vitality Status Levels:

Everyone starts on Blue status. 7500 points for Bronze, 25 000 points for Silver, 40 000 for Gold and 50 000 for Diamond. This is the same for main member and spouse (ie double for a couple), and for each additional adult member, add 3750 for Bronze, 12 500 for Silver, 20 000 for Gold and 25 000 for Diamond.

While you are working towards your Vitality status, earn points towards your Active Rewards goals and earn Discovery Miles when you achieve your goals. This applies to each adult member, and for teens (with limited rewards).

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Disclaimer: The information and opinions in this document have been recorded and arrived at in good faith and from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made to their accuracy, completeness or correctness. The information is provided for information purposes only and should not be construed as the rendering of advice. Informed Healthcare Solutions accordingly accepts no liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect or consequential loss arising from the use of this document or its contents. IHS is a licensed financial service provider: FSP # 12239