Delta Care Rx Launches On-Demand TeleHealth Wound Care Service

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Care Rx, one of the nation's leading and most innovative pharmaceutical care companies supporting serious illness, palliative and hospice care providers, has launched a virtual wound care consultation service that brings an expert wound care physician and nurse directly to the bedside to work with hospice and palliative care nurses.

The program is led by a duo of wound care experts: Aletha Tippett, MD, a nationally recognized wound care expert, and Toccara Jule, RN, a certified hospice and palliative nurse with a lengthy background in wound management.

"With an initiative like this, we're changing the hospice paradigm about wound healing," Tippett said. "While our goal is comfort, dignity and pain management, we find that with effective wound management about half of the wounds we see with hospice patients can heal. It's a significant quality of life improvement for these patients."

"Some providers rely on extensive wound care guides, which are of limited utility when a nurse is at the bedside trying to manage the pain, discharge and odor associated with serious wounds," Jule added. "With a simple video connection, Delta Care brings expert help to the bedside, where we not only can support the nurse but also reassure and comfort the patient and the patient's family."

How It Works

Delta Care clients simply enter the Delta Care online e-Tools portal, select wound care and then schedule an appointment with Tippett and Jule. Nurses will be able to share with them real-time video from their tablet or phone of a patient's wound.

In support of the rollout of the Delta Care Wound Care program, Delta Care is also introducing the Dragonfly Wound Kit, which includes a dressing developed specifically for use with hospice patients. "This dressing reduces odor, prevents infection and relieves pain. It's one of the few products of its kind," Tippett noted.

The dressing needs to be changed two or three times a week for most wounds. And it's simple enough that a family caregiver can do it, Jule said.

"As a physician, I'm happy to be able not just to support the nurse at the bedside but also to speak directly with patients and families, reassuring them, educating them and answering their questions," Tippett added.

"Effective wound management is as important to family members as it is to hospice patients," Tippett explained. "It relieves family caregivers of the anxiety they may be having about the patient's wound. The Dragonfly Wound Kit and video consult gives them the tools and education they need to better manage wounds. As a result, they feel better. And they often can see the result."

"The Delta Care Wound Care Program is further evidence of Delta Care's commitment to innovation and disruption in the pharmacy benefit field," said Michelle Mikus, PharmD, Vice President of Pharmacy Operations for Delta Care Rx. "Expert wound care consultation at the bedside is something not typically available from a hospice or palliative care provider's pharmacy partner. But it's now an essential part of Delta Care's comprehensive service offering."

The program is an extension of Delta Care's already extensive offering of on-demand services, which include On Demand Pharmacist Services (pharmacist consults), Hospice Live^TM provider and pharmacist video consults at the bedside, and Delta Campus clinical education.

"Not all hospices have the expertise in-house to handle difficult wounds," Jule noted. "Delta Care clients have this expertise at their fingertips and available right at the bedside."

About Delta Care Rx

Delta Care Rx (www.deltacarerx.com) transforms and improves the hospice pharmacy sector through business transparency, innovation, extreme customer service, and the maintenance of vital community-pharmacy relationships. As a pharmacist-owned, privately held provider, Delta Care sets the industry benchmark for pharmacy benefit management, mail order pharmacy options, on-demand pharmacist services and hospice-tailored electronic prescribing. In addition, Delta Care offers electronic tools, including cutting-edge telehealth technology, to improve the quality of patient care and simplify essential workflow and ordering processes within hospice settings.

About Aletha Tippett, MD

Dr. Aletha Tippett received her BS in chemical engineering from the University of Missouri in 1975 and her MD from the University of Cincinnati in 1997. Dr. Tippett has concentrated her practice on wound care for 15 years and has treated more than 15,000 wounds. Her main areas of focus in wound care are limb salvage and pressure ulcer prevention and treatment, to which she brings a bio-engineering approach. She has been honored with numerous healthcare awards and is a published author and international speaker and teacher on wound care topics. Dr. Tippett is president of the Hope of Healing Foundation, dedicated to limb salvage and novel wound therapies. Dr. Tippett is also active in hospice and is a certified hospice medical director for provider in Southwest Ohio.

Mark Cohen
Delta Care Rx
800.335.8219

SOURCE Delta Care Rx