Will you be a “Have” or a “Have Not”?

By Susan Saldibar

The care models for long-term acute-care providers, or LTPACs, are changing, in case you haven’t noticed. The move to a value-based model is clearly transforming the way the industry provides care. Even if you own and operate an assisted living community, the ripple effect of these changes stand to rock your world as well.

I caught up with John Damgaard, President and CEO of MatrixCare (a Senior Housing Forum partner) to discuss how the company is working with their newest partner, PruittHealth to enable seamless integration of data and health records (EHR) across their skilled nursing locations. This was a truly interesting discussion and, as John talked, I realized I was getting a lot of great industry insight in the process.

How is MatrixCare supporting progressive providers like PruittHealth?

First, we discussed what John refers to as “tactical” advantages MatrixCare has brought to PruittHealth.

  • Using CMS data (yes, it’s all out there), along with their advanced analytics to enable PruittHealth to compare its performance on a wide range of KPIs against all other skilled nursing facilities. This helps identify areas to improve their already solid performance outcomes as they continue to grow and expand.  

  • Applying powerful decision support analytics to ensure compliance that remains in line with PruittHealth’s goals and objectives. “What we’ve found is that those who use MatrixCare in a skilled nursing setting, such as PruittHealth, outperform others in 5-star ratings and re-admission rates by a meaningful and growing margin,” John tells me.

  • Providing PruittHealth with staff coordination tools that bring the whole virtual care team together around the patient. This makes it easier for the staff to access important care information, in real time, at the point of care. These tools are intuitive to use and caregivers love them, John tells me. So much so, that MatrixCare tools are being requested by name. “Providers tell us that new recruits will ask ‘Are you using MatrixCare? It’s great! All I have to do is push buttons to get information.’” And, face it, these are the employees you need to attract!

But what really excites John are the broader strategic benefits MatrixCare brings to PruittHeath and other providers.

John was eager to talk about how MatrixCare is supporting those providers, such as PruittHealth, who are positioning themselves at the forefront of where value-based care reform is taking this industry. The dynamic infrastructure MatrixCare provides is allowing LTPACs to integrate more easily with other providers, thus expanding their networks to provide better outcomes and operate more profitably.

This integration leads providers towards a true population-based care model, enabling them to offer an almost unlimited breadth and scope of services, all centered around the individual. PruittHealth is a good example of this, with its spectrum of acute-care skilled nursing, senior living, home care, hospice, rehab and even pharmaceutical services.

You can’t do this with paper anymore.

It’s hard to imagine how providers can hope to optimize outcomes across such a diverse provider network without an EHR infrastructure that allows vital health records and data to “follow” the senior throughout his or her continuum of care. How else can the provider “right size” the type and level of care to optimize value-based results? Certainly not with antiquated, paper-based systems that leave silos of data in file folders requiring someone to key it into a database. The better the technology, the more preposterous this sounds, doesn’t it?

John also spoke of the narrowing of referral networks, bringing yet an even higher level of competition. “In the past, acute-care providers would send patients out to at least 100 skilled nursing facilities,” he says. “Now they’re sending to maybe six. And those six will be the ones with the best outcomes and lowest re-admission rates.”

Will you be a “Have” or a “Have Not”?

Ultimately, as John notes, the evolution of senior care will create an even greater divide between the “haves” and the “have nots”. Those providers wanting to compete and grow simply can’t do it without the digital backbone to support them. They will either be acquired or go out of business.

What MatrixCare is doing for PruittHealth and other LTPAC providers gives new hope to an industry traditionally lagging far behind in adopting enabling technologies. Providers such as PruittHealth are laying the groundwork to be power players in an industry where referrals, alliances, and digital integration well may be what separates the “haves” from the “have nots”.

Which will you be?

You can read the full PruittHealth press release here.


For more information on MatrixCare visit www.matrixcare.com/shf

 

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