Post-acute needs to get cracking on ACOs

If post-acute care providers want to participate in new care and payment models like accountable care organizations, they need to take the initiative.

As it stands, acute care providers have taken the lead in ACO participation, but post-acute care providers are better positioned for this model, said speakers during a webinar hosted by research and publishing firm Irving Levin Associates on post-acute care participation in ACOs.

“A lot of post-acute, long-term care providers we work with are better positioned to manage costs and have a handle on what drives their costs,” said Scot Park, principal and founder of Ohio-based Artower Advisory Services.

But, even though post-acute providers are better positioned, he said, they have been sitting back and waiting for acute care to approach them about ACO participation – which is not a good strategy.

“I think there needs to be some initiation on behalf of the post-acute, long-term care world to reach out to the acute care providers and help them understand what do the potential partnerships look like? What can we provide?”

Acute care providers are looking for long-term care partners who can provide high-quality care at lower cost, and over the years, long-term care providers have gotten good at that and at managing chronic disease, said Sue Plasterr, RN, vice president of health services for Greystone Communities, a development and management consulting company for senior living industry.

“With healthcare reform, I think it is causing acute care providers and physicians to realize and see the value that post-acute partners, and long-term care in particular, bring to their ability to be successful,” she said.

But for post-acute care to be successful in ACOs, they must step up their game and be strategic about with whom they partner.

Post-acute providers are going to need to:

• increase their ability to do on-site diagnostics – which may mean increased technology and physician presence
• use telemedicine to help manage chronic diseases and avoid re-hospitalizations
• invest in electronic medical records and other technology that will allow data sharing and analysis
• be transparent by sharing quality measures/outcomes
• research their market and the potential partners in it to ensure the right partnership fit

While at this point there are many unknowns for post-acute providers participating in ACOs, said John Durso, a partner who leads the senior services healthcare practice group at the Ungaretti & Harris law firm in Chicago, once a partner or partners have been found, post-acute providers should ask for a board seat on the governing body of the ACO, or at least for seats on the organization’s committees. Post-acute providers also need to negotiate for their part in the shared savings.