The software platform Bed Beacon allows patients and healthcare workers to find hospitals as Vrbo allows travelers to find hotels, explained Dr. Kathryn Jarvis, physician and healthcare efficiency expert.
As CEO of Bed Beacon, Jarvis described her software platform’s operations on Monday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with host Rebecca Mansour and special guest host John Hayward.
“Bed Begin is a sorting tool for healthcare facilities to use to find available beds,” Jarvis said. “That means that we have all hospitals, nursing homes, short-term care [and] long-term [facilities], in-patient psych facilities, hospices, and home health [services] in one platform.”
Bed Beacon consolidates information on healthcare availability across the entire United States into one database, Jarvis added, allowing patients and healthcare professionals to further sort searches according to quality and types of care provided.
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Jarvis likened her solution to other apps for finding specific services. “If you think about [how] Zillow is to find a home or VRBO is to find a hotel room, we help you find a hospital bed or a healthcare bed.”
The coronavirus outbreak presents a “really big logistical problem” in allocation of healthcare resources, noted Jarvis, highlighting Bed Beacon’s ability to incorporate “creative” solutions towards increasing healthcare capacity via inclusion of U.S. naval ships or repurposed hospitals.
Bed Beacon is used by social workers, hospital case managers, nurses, nurses, and facility directors to scan available healthcare facilities for patients, stated Jarvis. It also allows patients and loved ones “to find the right place to go to.”
Jarvis remarked, “We already have a system built, and we already have all hospitals in the United States in our system, all nursing homes in the United States in our system, all in-patient psych facilities in our system, all short-term and long-term rehab facilities in our system, and all home health agencies in our system, right now.”
The coronavirus pandemic has increased interest in Bed Beacon from both public and private interests, shared Jarvis. “We’re really shocked by how much attention we’re getting and how much movement we’re getting.”
“I’m hopeful that this is on the horizon for America,” said Jarvis of the possibility of widespread utilization of Bed Beacon. “We certainly want to use our resources to help in this pandemic.”
Mansour asked how Bed Beacon might “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus’s spread.
Jarvis replied, “At a time when we’re trying to flatten the curve, we really can’t have a whole lot of visitors at nursing homes, hospices, all kinds of the facilities in health care [where] they can bring in the disease or they could catch it and take it home. So what we have is a platform where … families can look to find the next facility that a patient — their loved one — goes to without actually visiting the facility. You can imagine how stressful the time frame would be if your family member is going to a nursing home or hospice and you can’t actually go visit the nursing home or the hospice facility to help your parents or your child select a facility.”
Jarvis continued, “With our software platform you can at least see and sort based upon the quality and some of the amenities of the facilities, which will [help make] a better decision and give more information at a time that’s really hard.”
Breitbart News Tonight broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot channel 125 weeknights from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Eastern or 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific.
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