BWFH teams up with New England Life Care to provide the right care, at the right time, at the right site of care

In today’s rapidly changing healthcare environment, it is critical that we continuously seek ways to provide services to patients across the care continuum and achieve the objectives of providing the right care, at the right time, at the right site of care.

Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital is excited to share the “breakthrough” clinical affiliation that we have with New England Life Care (NELC). NELC is a unique, not-for-profit hospital cooperative, whose business model allows us to benefit from an ownership and governance stake in the cooperative. This highly aligned “ownership” structure provides for clinical integration and patient care levels not possible through standard relationships with traditional “for-profit” home infusion providers.

“We know that patients always have choice when it comes to choosing services at discharge, however, collaborating with New England Life Care really helps patients prepare for that next step when getting ready to go home with any IV or enteral needs,” says James Grafton, RN, MSN, MHA, Senior Manager of Care Continuum Management at BWFH. “Having them onsite to collaborate with us makes the discharge process easier. The team at New England Life Care are able to process the referral, review the insurance information and, most importantly, take the time to set up and teach here in the hospital with the patients and family members.”

For patients, the relationship with NELC is equally beneficial. “Right from the beginning, I felt at ease with my antibiotic infusion from all of the conversations with my Infectious Disease physician, Dr. Clark, and the NELC Nurse Liaison in the hospital,” says patient Thomas Powers. “I had no background in medicine, but the nurse taught me how to administer the medication until my wife and I were comfortable doing it on our own. When we went home, a nurse came by to watch me and make sure everything was ok. While the medication is infused over a short time, I am able to do all my normal activities at home. NELC has been terrific and I have always felt I had the best care possible with Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.”

Since 2008, NELC has been providing services for BWFH patients daily with high-touch, high-quality patient-centric infusion care in the comfort of their home with access to nurses and pharmacists 24/7. “On behalf of the entire NELC team, thank you for the privilege of serving Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital and our continued commitment is to you and the patients you trust us to care for!” says Michael G. Souza, President and CEO of NELC.

With 2,900 patients on census daily, NELC now has six locations servicing all of Northern New England and covering 65,000 square miles.