‘Not About A Shiny New Toy’: How Home Health Providers Are Succeeding With More Complex Patients

Home Health Care News | By Patrick Filbin
 
As home health patients become sicker and more complex, providers have been forced to find ways to keep their care models financially viable.
 
In order to combat some of those “acuity creep” challenges, industry leaders are leaning on technology, data-driven decision making and more value-based care.
 
“We continue to navigate through a very regulated industry,” Janice Riggins, chief clinical officer at VitalCaring, told Home Health Care News. “That continues to pose issues for us, in addition to expenses for training and education. The recruitment and retention of qualified staff that have that clinical expertise is a financial implication. All of these aspects are at a very heightened level. Now more so than ever.”
 
The Dallas-based VitalCaring provides home health and hospice services across six Southeastern states.
 
Staffing costs and physician engagement
 
When taking care of the sickest and most complicated patients, it’s imperative that clinicians and caregivers are properly trained and that staff resources are optimized.
 
“Training and education is an investment that needs to be considered,” Riggins said. “It’s really important for our staff to have continuous training in order to handle these complexities of the sicker patients, which add to that overall operational cost.”
 
In this care environment, clinicians must be operating at the top of their licenses, McBee Associates President Mike Dordick told HHCN.
 
“Unlike going in and changing a wound or basic injections, you’re going to the sicker patients where there’s a lot more that clinicians have to be able to to deal with,” Dordick said. “Your resource allocation and your staffing strategy has to be at a higher level than if it was a lower-acuity patient.”
 
McBee Associates is a consulting firm that works with hospitals and post-acute care providers.
Maintaining an adequate staffing level will always be a struggle for providers. The same goes for covering the costs that are necessary to take care of new-age patients.

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