How can hospice and palliative care providers strike a balance between cost of care, financial sustainability and high-quality care in an ever-evolving industry landscape?
Quality care isn’t just about clinician/patient face time together, of course. It also involves everything underpinning that essential relationship—processes, staffing, systems and technology, processes, education, quality improvement, and even partnerships. Here are some strategies to reduce costs and elevate the patient experience.
Administrative tasks grow as your organization does. One way to streamline these administrative processes is to map them out and reduce redundancy, that isn’t essential. Spend some time observing staff and patient interactions objectively. For example, are there patient visits that could be handled over the phone or with technology to lower travel costs?
Another place to check is with your electronic health records (EHRs) and communications. Is there seamless documentation? Reduced paperwork? Does your technology automate communication between different care teams and patients so that clinicians can operate at the top of their license? What can be handled digitally that isn’t already? There are likely more processes than you think.
Your healthcare staff is the lifeblood of your organization, with staffing shortages acting like a tourniquet. Consider cross-training staff to broaden capacity and cover gaps. Better yet, extend your care team by outsourcing after-hours and overflow care using flexible staffing models which adapt to fluctuating patient loads. Lower your cost-per-call with a mix of clinical and non-clinical staff. CareTriage support easily routes calls to the right person at the right time, reducing burnout and improving retention while improving outcomes.
Telehealth technology has come a long way. Monitor hospice patients remotely to reduce the need for costly in-person visits. Create automated, personalized patient check-ins via text, phone surveys, transforming the way they view their health journey. Check vital signs and communicate with patients daily no matter where they are to improve patient engagement and care compliance. As patients grow in confidence, they better manage their own care, ultimately making the provider’s job easier and more cost effective.
Meds are a vital part in the patient’s care plan, but managing them can be difficult and costly. Medication management is a strategy that monitors and engages patients and caregivers, educating them about prescription intake and improving care quality. Providers provide medication management plans and address questions so that patients can take a more active role in managing their healthcare.
Automated tuck-in calls help ensure patients have their medications and supplies before the weekend, when they’re more costly to refill. During the call patients can also indicate they have symptom changes so that providers can triage proactively instead of readmitting or calling 911.
Receiving care from multiple providers, for multiple conditions, can often be confusing for patients and their families. Careful education throughout their healthcare journey gives your patients a peace of mind and provides them the tools and knowledge to manage their symptoms at home. Telehealth and patient engagement platforms can regularly push out videos and articles to help patients learn more about their conditions so they can modify their behaviors for better outcomes.
Boost hospice and palliative care satisfaction scores and reimbursements as you pinpoint areas of improvement. Successful quality improvement (QI) programs consistently measure and analyze data, highlighting areas for improvement that might otherwise be missed.
For example, are you tracking patient call data to determine when and where you have gaps in triage coverage? Can you quantify which calls are tasks that could be automated? Do you have data that directs where to allocate training resources that will most improve scores? With the correct quality improvement initiatives, your organization will deliver resources that assist your staff and strengthen your patient care services for the better (AAHPM).
With today’s healthcare industry pressures, providers must develop sustainable strategies to reduce costs for hospice and palliative care patients. With the right people, processes, technologies—and partners—these challenges can actually transform organizations and improve outcomes.
Fortunately, CareXM is the kind of experienced, clinical partner you can count on to help you elevate your patient and caregiver experiences. Our mission is to help our partners effortlessly anticipate and respond to patient needs with triage technology backed by our on-demand triage team.
Whether you need after-hours triage, our cost-saving hybrid triage solutions, or in-house triage call-center infrastructure, we help you flex and extend your care, so you reach patients in the moments they need help the most. From home health and hospice to health systems and more, CareXM will transform your patient approach to lower operating costs.