Connect4Life Benefits to Residents and Families

Like all Americans, we are living longer. And we want to live better. Or as we say at Juniper, we want to “be fully alive in every season!”

Today, many individuals who live in our communities have health challenges and medical needs that we need to address, while giving them the opportunity to enjoy each day without the worries associated with managing health care appointments, prescriptions and so forth.

A recent study showed that the number one factor seniors look for when choosing care is convenience. And what does convenient care mean: one stop shop, same day appointments, provider consistency and credentials. These are also the hallmarks of Connect4Life! We provide easy access to what you need so that you can live the life you choose!

Connect4Life brings new meaning to “under one roof”. Not only are the services provided in one location, but your home is here, your friends are here, and your LIFE is here. And all of the details are coordinated “under one roof” as well, within a single Electronic Health Record (EHR).

For most of our residents, it is reassuring to know that convenient care and service is available when needed. They value the relationships with all of their partners in caring. Our goal is to know each resident as an individual and to understand and respect your specific wants and needs. We believe that integrating clinical services is the foundation on which a thriving lifestyle can be built.

For our families, they also find value in the convenience and accessibility of services. What this often means for them is that they no longer need to worry about the details of their loved one’s care – no driving to appointments, no waiting days for a call back. All of that is coordinated in their loved one’s home here at Juniper. And they recognize that fewer hospitalizations and out-patient visits means less disruption and greater comfort for their loved one.

We knew that Connect4Life provided incredible value and benefit to residents and their families. But what we have recently learned is that we have also achieved great clinical results. Results within Juniper’s Connect4Life program are far better than you might get at home or in a different senior living community.

How do we know this? In late 2016, we commissioned a group of researchers including a well-known John Hopkins scholar to review Connect4Life and help us understand whether the program actually improved wellbeing. They looked at two measures for which both we and Medicare had published reliable data: hospital admissions and hospital readmissions for the same illness within 30 days of discharge.

Connect4Life produced incredibly good results! Junipers’ rates for both hospitalizations and re-hospitalizations were substantially below other communities and even more stunning, below the rates for all 56 million Medicare beneficiaries nationally regardless of where they lived.

What this means is simple: convenient coordinated care is also good medicine; it keeps you healthier and allows you to live the life you want as fully as you choose. Now that’s something to get excited about!