According to multiple reports, the vulnerability rate is found to be the highest among patients who need post-acute care, and as a result, must be shifted to either homecare, or PAC facilities. The vulnerabilities can be traced back to a single point of origin, which would be the inability of a PAC facility to provide the post-acute care which most delicate patients require.
Solving this gap between demand and supply is extremely important if a PAC provider has to improve and succeed. A closer look at the problem and its origin should help us in getting a better idea about how to tackle the situation best.
Understanding the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP)
The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) was implemented to prevent patient readmissions primarily related to conditions and diseases such as:
- Acute myocardial infarction
- Heart failure
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Coronary artery bypass graft surgery
- Pneumonia
- Elective primary total hip arthroplasty, aka hip replacement surgery
- Total knee arthroplasty, aka knee replacement surgery
The program’s main goal is to reduce hospital readmissions, and part of that concerns the PAC sector as well. The policy penalizes healthcare facilities for frequent readmissions. It levies fines and restrictions on main healthcare providers if they are found to be sending patients home or to post-acute care facilities without doing their best to ensure that a readmission would not be necessary. This naturally led to a reduction in revenues for the PAC sector, as they would be sent far fewer patients than before.
Working with the HRRP
Hospitals would now only send patients to specific PAC facilities that meet their standard criteria, as opposed to just any random facility like before. This makes establishing the necessary rapport with the target hospitals and associated care facilities absolutely crucial. However, in order to establish those business relationships successfully, the PAC providers must have an impressive and state-of-the-art PAC setup first. As there are financial penalties involved here, a good relationship alone won’t suffice unless the PAC facility itself is up to the mark.
Improving a PAC Facility: Bring it Up to the Highest Standards
Healthcare providers would now redirect their patients to post-acute care facilities (on account of the HRRP), if they thought of them to be competent enough for transferring and handling their vulnerable patients with the care that they need. PAC providers must evolve and become better healthcare establishments, with better incorporated post-acute care treatment and care systems. From a practical point of view though, this is not as easy as it may sound. A PAC provider may not always be equipped to provide the best care to every patient sent to them.
However, with prior notice, they can be, and this is where a full-service solution such as Revsuppliance can be a gamechanger. They handle all aspects of inventory management, so that the PAC facility is never short on any supplies/equipment that they may need to transfer or care for their patients. On top of that, they simultaneously reduce the need for patients to be readmitted, while boosting necessary homecare equipment/supplies sales for PAC providers. It makes perfect sense as they achieve this by taking orders, handling the delivery logistics and even checking up on the patients at regular intervals, all of which contributes to balancing business with patientcare in perfect synchronization.
The solution is, therefore, a three-pronged approach. Maintaining rapport with the major healthcare providers, updating the post-acute care facility to the best standards possible, and to be in touch with the patients regarding their needs and ailments after sending them to homecare. Fortunately, PAC is a sector where balancing business with patientcare does not require sacrificing one for the other, but success in being able to do the latter actually fuels the former.
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