Digital health and care technologies are becoming more popular in the health, housing and care sectors. We have been used to alerts and alarms in the home for many years. These have now been supplemented by a wide range of sensors, wearables, trackers and phone apps; as well as video consultations, online symptom checkers and phone triage (e.g. GP and 111 services).Traditionally, these services have been known as telecare, telehealth and telemedicine. Now they are often brought together (particularly in the UK) under ‘Technology Enabled Care Services’ (TECS).
iCOPS® is a new self-evaluation and performance management cloud based tool. It gives commissioners, providers and clinical staff the ability to evaluate and review services, manage projects and contracts, instil good governance, monitor, assess and manage quality, safety and performance, and drive continuous improvement with regards to a range of assistive technology services.
iCOPS® now has a specific product for planning and commissioning TECS. It can be used for planning, commissioning, and project & contract management of TECS.
Some of the reported barriers to wider adoption of TECS include insufficient strategic planning, lack of wider stakeholder engagement, weak benefits realisation plans and business case development, together with lack of evidence to support investment, poor implementation plans and governance arrangements, as well as poor systems for measuring and evaluating service impact.
Whatever the issues are, iCOPS® can help you to break down your TECS project into component parts and enable you to work through them effectively, allowing you to plan, design, commission and manage your new service. iCOPS® comes pre-loaded with outcomes and criteria specific to TECS. It is cloud based, so there are no large downloads or hardware requirements, just literally switch on and go.
The specific topic areas covered in the iCOPS® product for commissioning TECS include: 1. Strategic planning and preliminary considerations 2. Involvement of stakeholders, users and carers 3. Partnerships, joint working and integration 4. Governance and risk management 5. Business case development 6. Investment and funding 7. Procurement 8. Service requirements and specifications 9. Contractual arrangements 10. Eligibility criteria and self-funding 11. Legal & regulatory obligations and standards 12. Information technology and information management 13. Marketing and promotion 14. Implementation 15. Performance management and continuous improvement 16. Measuring and evaluating service impact
iCOPS® is available for a free no obligation one month trial. To access the free trial on commissioning TECS click here to create your account: https://secure.icops.co.uk/login , select ‘create an account’, enter your name, email, create your own password, and use the licence code: icops6 To see more information about iCOPS® have a look at my recent blog on LinkedIn: http://tinyurl.com/lb2zky5
Please note iCOPS® requires a modern browser, e.g. Google Chrome, Safari or Internet Explorer 9 and above. No more excuses for not embracing Technology Enabled Care Services #TECS