Wellbe Debuts Bariatric Surgery Guided CarePath™ at Cleveland Clinic's Medical Innovation Summit
Program for bariatric procedures guides patients through their surgery and weight loss journey
Online, October 13, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Wellbe, Inc. announced today the official debut of the Guided CarePath for Bariatric Surgery at Cleveland Clinic's 2013 Medical Innovation Summit focused on obesity management.
Wellbe designed the system in conjunction with surgeons, care coordinators, dietitians, and bariatric nurses to provide patients with multiple benefits, including the convenience of online education, family involvement, checklists, reminders, and online support groups. The system is fully aligned with other points of care - including pre-surgery qualification and primary care follow-up visits -- to create a single, streamlined experience.
"We designed these Guided CarePaths from the ground up for bariatric surgery programs to help set patient expectations, align their programs to standards of care and reduce variances," said James Dias, CEO and Founder of Wellbe. "Patients have been eager to use this tool to give themselves the best chance for success."
A Guided CarePath can help standardize the coordination of care from the point of decision to one year post-surgery or longer. By enabling an online patient-provider partnership that goes beyond the facility walls, health systems can see gains in efficiency and engagement across the entire continuum of care.
The program, currently in use at Butler Health System in Butler, Pennsylvania, is accessed via the web on PCs or iPads. Hospitals can enroll patients in the six-month qualification period before surgery and the program covers the entire patient care journey, providing timely instructions, education (including videos), preparation checklists, decision-support tools, and feedback surveys. Enrolled patients find the simple program helps them approach surgery and lifestyle changes confident and worry-free.
"The online program, supplemented with our internal processes, help us keep in contact with patients before and after surgery. We can have patients better prepared, more confident in themselves, which leads to better success and reduces unnecessary admissions after surgery," said Cynthia Esser, Director of Emerging Technology for Butler Health System. "The Wellbe program reduces the unknown and uncertainties, it is easy for a patient to see their roadmap and the journey in reaching their goal."
The program will also be showcased in booth #331 at the upcoming ObesityWeek conference in Atlanta, Georgia on November 13-15, 2013.