Dignity Hospice, based in Louisville, Colorado, has been dedicated to providing end of life care to patients and their families for over a decade. As a community-based provider of hospice services in skilled nursing, assisted living, independent living communities, and private homes, the organization has experienced tremendous growth – up to an average of 100 patients at a time – in recent years.
As Dignity has expanded, the team has faced a number of communication challenges on a daily basis. In hospice care, there can be more than individuals involved in a patient’s care, with little to no communication between silos. Also, as is common within the healthcare space, many providers are still reliant on phone calls and faxes for information sharing. These inefficiencies – disparate providers and manual communication processes – are frustrating and time-intensive for both staff and families.
The Serenity Engage has proven to be exactly what the Dignity Hospice team needed. Serenity Engage effortlessly streamlines communication between cross-disciplinary teams. As information is more effectively shared and integrated by those teams, the overall experience for all involved stakeholders has infinitely improved. Now, care teams can seamlessly coordinate and communicate with each other, connect with families to share updates on their loved ones, answer questions in real time, and more.
“Serenity is a differentiator for us and I’m sure it is for others. It’s simple and effective and solves so many problems.”
Prior to adopting the Serenity platform, many families – often adult children in different geographic locations and with differing levels of involvement in care – struggled to navigate hospice care, and felt isolated and uninformed regarding a loved one’s condition and care. Now, leveraging Serenity Engage, family members are granted one source of information that is delivered at the same time to ensure everyone is included, and that questions are asked and answered more easily.
Dignity Hospice owner Jenna Girton has noticed family member attitudes shift; once frustrated and adversarial, they are now satisfied, connected, and engaged. According to Jenna, the consistent touchpoint and the ability to communicate, ask questions, and receive updates through Serenity has made all the difference.
Dignity Hospice has also achieved quantifiable time and effort savings. Serenity Engage saves key staff one to three hours per week, which equates to $75,000 in annual savings for a typical nursing staff of 12. Also, in spending less time on manual, time-intensive processes such as phone calls and faxes, staff can allocate additional time and budget toward ensuring patients receive exceptional care – the commitment that drives Dignity Hospice to be the best hospice provider in Colorado.