Success under PDPM – and beyond! – in large part, boils down to this: A SNF’s ability to build positive, sustainable outcomes. As such, HealthPRO Heritage advises providers to focus on the strategies, processes, and initiatives that will support consistent delivery on exceptional clinical and performance outcomes.
Not only is it what patients EXPECT and DESERVE, but the ability to drive outcomes will also drive a facility’s success – at all levels. Specifically, savvy SNFs will leverage the power of positive outcomes to:
- Fine tune effective therapy interventions and guide utilization (to assure appropriate/optimal # of therapy minutes)
- Identify risk factors for injury or re-hospitalization and determine appropriate length of stay (to assure safe transitions for residents leaving your facility and positively impact performance metrics)
- Customize how to raise the bar on clinical capabilities and capacity/need for staff education (to optimize your facility’s ability to care for high acuity patients)
The HealthPRO Heritage approach starts with maximizing therapeutic, quality interventions with 14 unique, well-designed “Clinical Pathways” to guide our therapists’ clinical decision-making.
These comprehensive Clinical Pathways are proprietary and address a variety of diagnostic categories (e.g.: Aphasia, Cognition, Cancer, Pulmonary, Medical Management, etc.) and have already been integrated into our EMR system to fortify therapists’ efforts towards streamlining treatment protocols and clinical best practices.
How does HealthPRO Heritage define “clinical best practices?” Examples include:
- Evaluations and evidence-based clinical assessments are sensitive to medical complexities and accurately quantify function, clinical care needs, cognition, risk factors, and available caregiver support
- Treatment interventions are primarily functional and based on empirical methods that focus on preparing patients for the next level of care
- Group and concurrent therapy strategies focus on function, education, and discharge goals to best prepare patients and their caregivers for safe transitions to the next level of care
Whether you're contracted with a therapy company or have an in-house therapy staff, Questions Worth Asking of your therapy team may include:
- How will therapists determine appropriate/optimal level of therapy?
- Are clinical protocols in place to guide/optimize therapists’ treatment interventions?
- How will outcomes be measured? And shared? And leveraged?
- What integrated, collaborative processes are in place with the IDT and other care providers across the continuum to drive positive outcomes?
- How will therapists implement Group & Concurrent processes?
- What additional competencies should therapists have as PDPM approaches?
- Also, as a SNF leader, ask yourself: How will you assess the efficacy of your therapists’ care?
Prepare. Execute. Succeed.
HealthPRO Heritage is prepared to help you execute and succeed in the New World of PDPM and beyond! We understand the key drivers required for success and have the ability to support SNFs in assessing risk, making necessary changes, and developing collaborative care management processes aligned with PDPM (and the Big Picture of health care reform initiatives!) In addition, as a trusted therapy partner, we want to be involved in developing protocols and driving clinical and performance outcomes in support of fiscal, compliance, and quality objectives.
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