The demand for health services offered by post-acute providers such as skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies and inpatient rehabilitation centers is increasing. This is due in part to the significant growth of our elderly population. As reported by the PRB, the aging population could fuel a 75% increase in Americans requiring nursing home care. With this shift, post-acute providers are challenged to stay competitive while simultaneously delivering care for this growing population. 

To meet this demand, skilled nursing facilities and other post-acute providers must adopt sophisticated care coordination and management technology to help attract new patients while continuing to deliver quality care.

When adopting care coordination technology, the right solution must fit the facilities’ specific needs. This is where CarePort fits into the post-acute equation. At CarePort, we provide care coordination software solutions that enable payers, ACOs and acute and post-acute providers to more efficiently manage patient transitions and coordinate care across the care continuum. By bridging the gap between acute and post-acute care, our platform enhances visibility into the care patients receive for improved outcomes.  

To remain successful in the post-acute space, it is important to understand the value-add different care coordination and management solutions can provide to your facility:

  1. Support the use of technology that educates patients about your facility before they arrive
    Patients increasingly want to be engaged and informed about their healthcare options but often receive minimal information about post-acute care prior to discharge from the hospital. Sophisticated care coordination solutions can empower patients to make educated decisions about post-acute care. CarePort Guide, for instance, provides case managers and patients with detailed information about every Medicare-certified post-acute and long-term care facility in the country. This includes information like star ratings, types of treatments provided and virtual tours. Having your facility’s information readily available to patients during the decision process can boost visibility and help attract the patients your facility is equipped to care for.  

  1. Prioritize solutions that deliver real-time information you can act upon
    Coordinating care at scale while simultaneously delivering quality care requires the proper technology to help identify what patients need in real-time. Unfortunately, many providers settle for technology that provides retrospective data that, while able to meet reporting purposes, cannot positively impact the immediate patient care being delivered. Through solutions like CarePort Connect, providers have access to timely clinical information that allows them to intervene and course-correct treatment if a problem is detected. For skilled nursing facilities, this means knowing that a patient is part of an ACO or bundled payment program when they’re admitted, rather than during a retrospective review. It also means tracking high-risk patients for follow-up and re-establishing care for readmitted patients.

  1. Monitor your facility’s performance against competitors
    Automated data collection and reporting help post-acute facilities eliminate time-consuming manual processes. CarePort’s suite of solutions automatically collects performance metrics generated from patient data. Specifically, CarePort Insight enables post-acute facilities to share outcomes with acute partners.

  1. Adopt the technology now to recruit next-generation skilled nurses
    The next generation of skilled nurses and clinical staff have grown up in the digital age. They increasingly expect to work with electronic and automated technology. Unfortunately, many facilities still run on outdated processes like phone communication and tasking paperwork. As Millennials continue to grow in the workforce and as Gen Z enters the workforce, implementing sophisticated technologies will give facilities a competitive edge in staff recruitment and retainment, helping providers efficiently care for the aging baby boomers.

The adoption of next-generation care coordination technology increases facility visibility and operational efficiency and improves patient outcomes. By implementing such solutions, skilled nursing facilities and post-acute providers can deliver the proper care to the right people, while also staying competitive in the market.

Lissy Hu, M.D., is the CEO of CarePort Health.