Encore Healthcare and Buckeye Home Medical Partner

The respiratory and sleep software company and respiratory HME provider work together to implement a new approach to home respiratory care model.

• By David Kopf
• Nov 10, 2022

Encore Healthcare, which makes the Nexus software platform for respiratory care, has partnered with Buckeye Home Medical of Jamestown, Tenn. to take a new approach to the standard HME model for serving oxygen, ventilator and airway clearance patients.

Using Encore’s Nexus software and Buckeye’s “high-touch” respiratory care program, which includes focused RN case managers fulfilling the role of Advanced Pulmonary Coordinators, the companies aim to improve outcomes and quality of life for Buckeye’s patients.

Under the arrangement, Buckeye and Encore enroll respiratory patients into an outcome-based program that is powered by Encore’s Nexus software. Then Respiratory Therapists and Advanced Pulmonary Coordinators ensure a smooth transition from the hospital into the home for patients and ensure they have the resources they need to stay home. Using clinical assessments, predictive analytics, and in-home visits to identify gaps in care, the program can predict exacerbations before they happen and, therefore, coordinate care with patients’ physicians.

In addition to helping patients, the partnership aims to serve payers’ needs to cut avoidable hospitalizations for chronic respiratory disease patients and physicians’ desires to improve patient outcomes and prevent the penalties their hospitals might incur for recurring readmissions. To that end, Encore says its Nexus program has reduced hospitalizations by more than 60 percent, and Buckeye’s respiratory focus improves care coordination and clinical outcomes.

“Encore has an innovative care model and software that’s being used all over the United States to reduce readmission and drive a better homecare model,” said Paula Allred, a Pharmacist and co-owner of Buckeye Home Medical. “Once we realized the capability of the Nexus software, I knew right away this is the future of healthcare, and it would be a disservice to our patients not to do this partnership.”

“The reputation for quality of care that Buckeye provides is well known, and I have even competed with them for many years with previous companies,” said Zach Gantt, RRT, FAARC, the CEO of Encore Healthcare. “Now it’s an honor to work/serve alongside them and make a difference in the community we both love so much.”