PALO ALTO, Calif. and BATON ROUGE, La., Jan. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vynca, a national leader in advance care planning, in partnership with the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum (Quality Forum), today announced that Ochsner Health, Louisiana's largest non-profit academic healthcare system, is the first hospital network to go-live on Vynca's EHR-integrated advance care planning solution. This partnership will make Louisiana Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (LaPOST) forms in the statewide LaPOST Registry available directly within the electronic health record (EHR), ensuring patients' end-of-life treatment wishes are documented and accessible by healthcare providers.
"Digital access for vital portable medical order documents – both for family members and the care team – ensures that everyone is aware of a patient's end-of-life treatment decisions. In medical situations where a patient is unable to speak for themselves, this planning solution can help alleviate the stress and anxiety of not only the patient, but also their loved ones. By teaming up with Vynca and the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum, Ochsner hopes to raise awareness about the importance of discussing end-of-life treatment wishes with family members and documenting these desires in an easily accessible format," said Susan Nelson, MD, system chair of palliative medicine at Ochsner Health.
The partnership between the Quality Forum and Vynca enables healthcare providers in all care settings across Louisiana to electronically complete and access patients' LaPOST forms. This collaboration further enhances the state's current advance care planning programs, which include LaPOST physician orders that outline the types of medical treatment that patients with serious, life-limiting illness wish to receive as they approach the end of their life to ensure that the provided care aligns with care goals and preferences.
"Enabling care across the care continuum remains our focus, and I am thrilled to welcome Ochsner to deepen the collective goal we have with Vynca," said Cindy Munn, CEO of the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum. "Over the last decade, the Quality Forum has proudly partnered with leading initiatives in advance care planning education that empower healthcare consumers and providers alike. Vynca continues to show us how we can not only expand adoption of the statewide electronic registry but become a national leader in the value that embracing these practices and products can have on patient care."
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased awareness about the need for advance care planning, as individuals of all ages are now considering their end-of-life wishes and formalizing those in advance care plans. The LaPOST Registry digitizes these care preferences and seamlessly manages them, so that documents reflect patients' most up-to-date preferences and are digitally available to healthcare providers across all care settings, including primary care, hospice, nursing homes and specialty clinics. With the EHR-integrated Vynca solution, Ochsner can access these crucial documents at the point-of-care.
"COVID-19 has thrust the need for these conversations and the digitization of advance care planning into the spotlight, as it not only ensures that end-of-life care preferences are always accessible within the EHR, but that they are also being honored," said Ryan Van Wert, MD, CEO and co-founder of Vynca. "Many people would prefer to be consulted about their final days in the hospital and what interventions and comfort measures are most important. Having this information captured and available is increasingly critical during the pandemic when clinical resources, and ICU resources more specifically, are being stretched to the limit. Vynca is proud to partner with Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum and Ochsner Health to make real-time visibility into a patient's true care goals a reality."
About Vynca
Vynca addresses critical unmet needs in end-of-life care with comprehensive advance care planning technology solutions that enable healthcare organizations to deliver high-quality treatment consistent with individuals' preferences. The company has digitized a previously paper-based process to help patients, families and providers have meaningful conversations about future care preferences, create accurate documentation and provide real-time access to this critical information throughout the care continuum. With a zero percent error rate, Vynca ensures personalized end-of-life care is available for every individual, every time – reducing medical errors, adverse efforts and unwanted healthcare utilization, while improving patient, caregiver and clinician experience. To learn more about the largest advance care planning network in the U.S., please visit www.vyncahealth.com.
About Ochsner Health
Ochsner Health is a system that delivers health to the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and the Gulf South with a mission to Serve, Heal, Lead, Educate and Innovate. Ochsner Health is a not-for-profit committed to giving back to the communities it serves through preventative screenings, health and wellness resources and partnerships with innovative organizations that share our vision. Ochsner Health healed more than 876,000 people from across the globe in 2019, providing the latest medical breakthroughs and therapies, including digital medicine for chronic conditions and telehealth specialty services. Ochsner Health is a national leader, named the top hospital in Louisiana and a top children's hospital by U.S. News & World Report. As Louisiana's leading healthcare educator, Ochsner Health and its partners educate thousands of healthcare professionals annually. Ochsner Health is innovating healthcare by investing in new technologies and research to make world-class care more accessible, affordable, convenient and effective. Ochsner's team of more than 26,000 employees and 4,500 providers are working to reinvent the future of health and wellness in the region. To learn more about Ochsner Health, please visit www.ochsner.org.To transform your health, please visit www.ochsner.org/healthyyou.
About Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum
The Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing evidence-based initiatives to improve the health and health care of Louisiana residents. Its focus areas include quality measurement and analytics, practice transformation/medical home development, health information technology (IT), advance care planning/Louisiana Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment education, and community outreach/education. The Quality Forum serves as the State-Designated Entity for health IT initiatives in Louisiana, including management of the statewide health information exchange. For more information, visit lhcqf.org.
Media Contacts:
Vynca: Emelia Altschul, Marketing, (914) 260-1621, emelia@vyncahealth.com
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SOURCE Vynca, LLC
