18 HEALTH • June 15, 2015
Technology is ready, but providers say billing needs
to catch up\\ By Emily Micucci
M
ost people don't enjoy spending
long stints in the hospital fol-
lowing surgery or a serious ill-
ness. And few senior citizens
dream of spending their later years in long-
term care facilities, preferring instead the com-
forts of home as they cope with the maladies
that come with old age.
The U.S. health care system is heading in a
new direction, one that favors home-based
care whenever possible, rather than facility-
based care that ends up costing the system
(read: Medicare) a lot of money.
HOME BASE
FOR HEALTH?
But the system also has some catching up to do,
according to James Njoroge, CEO of Century
Homecare, a Worcester-based provider of home
Diane DiGregrio, a registered
nurse at HealthAlliance Hospital
in Leominster, monitors patients
recovering from home. Data is
transmitted via satellite.