The Pacific Urban Resilience Lab (PURL) at the University of Hawaii has received support under the CARES Act to provide technology, management tools and training to organizations caring for kupuna in our community.
Senior care organizations who choose to participate in the Program will receive:
- No cost usage of the Covid Navigator mobile app and administrative portal for a minimum of 6 months;
- Training and support resources on how to use the application and admin portal;
- Tools to help manage the complex tasks for compliance and risk management; and
- If a caregiver is an employee of more than one participating organization, they will be able to connect to all participating employers to make it easy for the employee to communicate daily screening results, any Covid exposures, and lab results in a timely manner to all authorized employers.
What is COVID Navigator?
FAQ
A: Any organization on Oahu that provides care for seniors either in home and community settings, or in care facilities. For example: adult residential care homes, foster homes, assisted living facilities, independent living communities, skilled nursing facilities, home care agencies, home health agencies, adult day care, adult day health, etc. Please click the “Ask a Question” button at https://ihealthhome.com/covid-navigator-sign-up/ if you have a question about eligibility for the Program.
A: Our goal is to seek extended funding based upon the successful outcomes of the Program. If quantifiable and objective outcomes can be demonstrated that community-wide use of the Covid Navigator amongst senior care organizations can indeed improve the efficiency screening and the timeliness of managing exposures and contact tracing, we expect to secure additional funding for the Program.
However, in the event extended funding is not obtained, then participating organizations have no obligation to continue using the application and will have the option to discontinue usage of the app on May 31, 2021. If an organization chooses to continue usage, there may be a modest monthly subscription cost. The subscription cost will be based upon the number of users in an organization, but the cost will not be more than $1 per active user per month. An active user is someone who takes a screening questionnaire at least once during the month.
A: Click Enroll Now and complete the form. Someone from Covid Navigator will be in contact with you about next steps.
A: Covid Navigator is very easy to use and get started. The mobile app is easily accessible to your employees in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. You will be provided with a 1-page Quick Guide to email to your employees with instructions to download the app, self-register and take their screening questions. That’s it – they will start getting their daily “Cleared for Work” badges immediately.
The vast majority of time, employees will be “Cleared for Work” and as an organization you don’t need to do anything more. The Covid Navigator Admin Portal contains easy to use reports that you can generate to document the screening process and your employees’ compliance with the Program.
When an employee triggers a “Not Cleared for Work” flag, your designated Company Administrator for the Program will receive an email (and a text message if desired) to initiate communication and action planning with the employee. Your Company Administrator is usually the person who handles HR related issues in your organization and is the person who is currently coordinating any Covid return to work plans. Your Company Administrator will have access to training resources and support help to teach them how to use the system to efficiently manage employee exposures and contact trace as needed.
A: PURL is a research and development lab of the University of Hawaii that conducts research and provides analytical support services in support of community engagement, academic teaching, training and capacity building relevant to safety and security, environmental management, transportation and logistics and community planning. PURL was granted support under the CARES Act to study the impact of the use of technology by caregivers who serve the elderly population in the community and the effects on efficient screening and exposure management in protecting our kupuna.
As a Participating Organization, you agree to allow the developers of the app to provide a deidentified data set of information reported by Participants to the PURL researchers for purposes of analysis about the usefulness and efficacy of such an app. You also agree to allow the PURL researchers to request an interview with you or your staff regarding your feedback about the process, rollout, training and usage of the technology.
A: COVID Navigator is a mobile app co-developed by two well-established health software companies based on the mainland but with Hawaii roots. iHealthHome (iHH) is based in Seattle, WA, and is a subsidiary of Ho’okele Health Innovations, in Honolulu. iHH offers cloud-based software for care managers and home care agencies who help seniors age in place in their own homes. MediKeeper (MK) is a health and wellness platform based in San Diego that is supported by Hawaii investors and offers cloud-based software for large employers and health plans to help their employees be engaged and empowered to maintain their health and wellness.
iHH and MK are HIPAA compliant systems. MK is additionally HITECH Certified. Learn more about iHealthHome at https://ihealthhome.com/ and MediKeeper at https://medikeeper.com/ iHH and MK co-developed the mobile app COVID Navigator which is a native mobile app available in the Apple and Google Play stores for individual users to download and use to take a screening questionnaire daily and enter other information such as lab test results, temperatures, task completions, signature certifications, etc. and calculates via an algorithm the individuals “risk” of having Covid-19 as well as applies employerspecific rules to determine if the employee is then “Cleared for Work.” The mobile app is connected to iHealthHome’s care management system that allows company administrators to be flagged when an employee reports potential exposure and enables them to document all the steps they’ve taken to reduce the exposure of senior clients and other staff. A library of robust reports and databases make it easy for companies to also document their screening activities for compliance with regulations.
A: Covid Navigator has been available for use since June of 2020 and was built in response to the Covid-19 pandemic as a way for the developers to help with the community response. Covid Navigator is being used nationwide by small to extremely large organizations from coast to coast. In Hawaii, thousands of employees are actively using Covid Navigator every day. Prior to seeking CARES Act funding, PURL collaborated with 3 senior care organizations on Oahu in a pilot project where over 250 caregivers tested the app, participated in its refinement and now continue to use it today for their daily screening.