Case Study: How EHM Senior Solutions Enables Personalized Care at Home

About EHM Senior Solutions

EHM Senior Solutions is a not-for-profit organization with a history dating back to 1879.  Formerly known as Evangelical Homes of Michigan, EHM operates Senior Living, Medicare At Home and private-duty LifeChoices Programs. 

EHM is one of the industry leaders in the movement of what’s called Life Plan communities – formerly known as continuing care retirement communities (or CCRCs) without walls.  These programs allow healthy, active older adults to maintain their independence at home, but also enable them to make arrangements for long-term care in the event of a change in their acuity. 

Throughout its long history, EHM has always worked to stay focused on the client and involve them in the organization’s transformation.  They have made it a priority to listen to the customer's voice above their own, especially during times of strategic planning and discernment.

From serving 660 seniors in 2000, to today's nearly 6,000 seniors each year, EHM is committed to serving individuals no matter where they are on life's journey and no matter where they call home.

EHM Key Differentiators

• Maintains an array of innovative solutions to match customers’ desires for how and where they want to live.  These solutions help customers maintain their own sense of self-worth and independence, while giving them a circle of support systems to live their lives to the fullest.
• Delivers services wherever the client calls home.
• Offers atypical solutions, such as the LifeChoices Program, to serve seniors and their families both on campus, at home, and in the wider community.

LifeChoices Program

A membership program for older adults that helps them remain happy, healthy and safe in their home, for a one-time entrance fee.  The program is customized around the individual and acts as a retirement community without walls.

Presently, 1,300 older adults participate in this program in their own homes and others participate on EHM’s campus.

The program offers atypical solutions at home that mirror the services older adults receive in retirement communities.  These services also extend to the wider community and older adults’ extended families.   

Services include home modifications, lawn services, home repairs, installation of safety devices, personal trainers, wellness coaches, nutritionists, massage therapists, and meal delivery.  These services can be purchased through an in-home web-based portal, provided by LivWell Health.

The Role of LivWell Health

Prior to working with LivWell Health, EHM Senior Solutions considered the reasons why seniors moved out of their homes. They recognized that they could provide services that would keep them living happily and safely in their homes longer.  EHM quickly found that the demand for these services was growing rapidly and their manual processes for managing and delivering these services weren’t optimal.

LivWell Health offers a platform for service delivery that allowed EHM to easily scale their services and keep pace with the rapid growth in demand. In addition, the platform allows EHM to maintain a profile on each customer so that when the service provider arrives to the customer’s home, they already know the senior and the senior feels a sense of connection.  The platform also allows EHM to track customer satisfaction with the services.

Incorporating LivWell’s platform into their service delivery has allowed EHM to scale their business by 10 times.  Most recently, they have launched the Community Living Senior Dining program with Morrison Senior Dining. This program allows seniors to order individualized, chef-prepared meals and connect with registered dieticians through the LivWell Health platform. The service also ensures that customers do not experience food insecurity.  Since implementing this program, EHM has gone from delivering 20 meals per month to 350 meals per month.

What Does the Future Hold

EHM has big plans to continue to scale and optimize service delivery for older adults.  They are currently working with 10 not-for-profit agencies and health care systems to develop a universal assessment and care management tool.  This consortium of agencies is building a universal assessment form that can be used to drive services deployment.  The LivWell Health platform will help manage the service intake and delivery for this consortium and support coordination of services among the agencies.  This will allow all stakeholders to have a single repository to view customer requests, which agency delivered the services, and any unmet customer needs.

This initiative allows EHM and other consortium members to pursue healthcare reform initiatives and partner with other agencies to communicate in a universal platform.