An Entirely New Paradigm for Post-Acute Health Care Management

The managers of residential care facilities we work with everyday report that the residential care and post-acute health care industry is changing at an alarming rate. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has shifted its focus away from simply measuring volume, toward a pay-for-performance system focused on value and quality. The implications of this shift in payment processing and compliance procedures for management in post-acute care, nursing homes, and hospice facilities are vast, complex, and daunting. Managers are scrambling to measure quality outcomes, improve compliance, and emphasize the customer experience throughout their organizations.

A grandfather and his grandson are having breakfast when the grandfather asks his grandson to hand him the newspaper.  The grandson looks up from his IPad and says “Grandpa, this is the 21st century.  We have electronic gadgets that are 100 times better than a crummy newspaper.  For instance, with my IPad here I can look at 10 different news sources in that many minutes and get 100 times more information than a paper. Here,” he says, handing his IPad to his grandfather, “I already pulled up Fox news for you.”  Let me tell you, that fly never knew what hit it.

I have a good friend who is a local Hospice worker here in my home town in Georgia.  Recently, she stopped by our local Boy Scout troop meeting to offer up some service projects for the boys.  This particular project involved creating and painting birdhouses for her patients for 2016.  In her presentation she touched briefly on Hospice, what it is and how they help. 

Imagine how vulnerable it must feel to be utterly dependent on others to help you with even the most basic things. “Things aren’t what they used to be,” you think to yourself while waiting for the attendant to assist you in getting out of bed. You’re having trouble remembering your attendant’s name -- Kimberly? Bethany? You reflect on how unpleasant it is to have to rely on someone else to take you to the bathroom.