When strategy meets reality: value-based discharge planning
Recently, I had the pleasure of presenting at the California Hospital Association Post-Acute Care Conference, which brings together multiple stakeholders across the continuum, including hospital discharge planners, skilled nursing facilities, home health care services, rehabs, and more. One of the themes that ran across multiple presentations was how value-based reimbursement models are impacting these cross-continuum […]
CEO perspective: CarePort as a company
CarePort has grown quite a bit since we started as a scrappy startup, and particularly in the last two years. Over that time, we’ve added a lot more people, but the underlying culture of the company has remained. I’m proud of that – and of the people who work here. That’s why I want to […]
Finally following the patient journey
A short time ago, I had the opportunity to attend and speak at Allscripts Client Experience (ACE) in Chicago. While at the conference I recorded a podcast focused on care coordination. Here’s a preview of my discussion: I got the idea to start CarePort when I was a medical student. My first interactions with patients […]
Bariatric beds as a barrier to discharge
A recent article in the American Journal of Managed Care caught my attention because it specifically addressed transitions of care for obese patients, which now constitute more that 20% of the adult U.S. population. This study, published in the Western Journal of Nursing Research, surveyed discharge staff in Pennsylvania and Arkansas, and found that one […]
How five dysfunctions of a team make care coordination teams thrive
The rise of care coordination – led by both regulatory changes and industry shifts – is prompting healthcare systems to think about new care coordination strategies between hospitals and downstream post-acute care providers. Many of the organizations that we work with are looking for better ways to coordinate post-discharge care. Because there’s such an interest in […]
Three ways to be a better care coordination partner
During our recent webinar, we discussed why sharing data and coordinating patient care across the continuum is critical as value-based payment (VBP) programs continue to grow and evolve. Our co-host, Kim Majick, Executive Vice President at Carespring, represented the post-acute perspective; I gave voice to the acute side, and our discussion covered the evolution of […]
White paper preview: what post-acute care providers actually want from hospital partners
The impact of value-based purchasing (VBP) and shared risk programs has traditionally focused on hospitals and health systems. But skilled nursing facilities and other post-acute providers play critical roles in patient care. Furthermore, starting in 2018, value-based purchasing will extend to post-acute providers, as nursing home payments become tied to hospital readmissions starting in 2019. […]
Beyond the Hospital: Choosing Quality Post-Acute Care is Life-Changing, Too
A recent The New York Times article highlighted the “life-changing magic of choosing the right hospital.” The piece was based on a study by health economists at Harvard, M.I.T., Columbia and the University of Chicago that showed how heart attack patients choosing treatment at hospitals with higher quality ratings ultimately experienced better survival gains. While […]
Three Takeaways for Coordinating Post-Acute Care
In the latest in our series of webinars on post-acute care, we discussed “Coordinating Care After Patients Leave the Hospital.” This month’s installment was led by our guest speakers Nathan Mast, post-acute strategist, and Ron Drees, director of post-acute services, at Mercy Health. Nate and Ron discussed the importance of having a connected network of […]
IMPACT Act Readiness Study: Findings from 80 Health Systems
Under the IMPACT Act, new rules have been proposed which require discharge planners to share quality and clinical service information with patients as a way to reduce readmissions from post-acute care. CarePort surveyed 80 health systems across the US to learn how they are responding to the proposed changes. Here are the key takeaways. High Awareness of the […]
Post-acute partnerships – beyond year one: lessons from Baystate Health & Cleveland Clinic
Preferred post-acute networks have emerged as a strategy to reduce hospital readmissions. An earlier blog entry discusses creating a preferred provider network (5 tips from the Cleveland Clinic and Baystate Medical Center to create a preferred SNF network). In this entry, we share lessons learned from post-acute leaders from The Cleveland Clinic and Baystate Medical Center on how […]
5 post-acute data pitfalls – and how to avoid them
Increasingly health systems need to understand post-acute outcomes for their patient populations. Here are some common mistakes and lessons learned from hospitals such as Montefiore when it comes to asking for data from your referral partners. According to claims data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), skilled nursing facility performance is highly […]