Heart to Heart Hospice’s return on investment in its community-based palliative care service line has come in the form of improved quality and financial outcomes.
The Texas-based hospice’s InHome Connect Palliative Care brand has led to significant declines in capitated per member per month (PMPM) costs and positive trends in timely access. The results are a product of the hospice’s recently formed value-based partnership with a leading unnamed Medicare Advantage plan in its home state.
Developing strong payer partnerships is a significant part of establishing a sustainable palliative care program, according to Seeley Avery, vice president of marketing and education at Heart to Heart Hospice. Also important is the ability for palliative care providers to demonstrate positive trends of improved quality and care transitions, Avery added.
“The strong collaboration with our partner entity has played a critical role in our success with payors,” Avery told Palliative Care News in an email. “Using such robust, proprietary data analytics enhances electronic medical records [EMRs]), and helps drive care decisions that are well-coordinated, timely and compassionate. The result is a sustainable solution that is both patient-centered and value-based.”
Heart to Heart collaborates with the palliative care company InHome Connect and with Vertedge Health Analytics to collect and analyze its palliative care program’s data. The hospice provider’s partnership with its sister company InHome Connect focuses on improving clinical and financial outcomes among high-risk, seriously ill patient populations.
The partnership with InHome Connect has resulted in a 51% reduction of hospitalizations among patient populations and generated about $1,354 in PMPM cost savings. The PMPM costs were cut in half across the board among 272 admitted patients, the company recently reported.
The community-based palliative care program also drove a 59% improvement rate in care coordination, Heart to Heart Hospice reported in a recent press release.
About 75% of the palliative program’s patients who were eligible to receive hospice care transitioned to these services in a timely manner, which led to “enhanced experiences,” the hospice stated. These enhanced outcomes included improved patient-centered decision-making. Nearly all (98%) of the palliative care patients participated in advanced care planning discussions.
The results illustrate the value proposition of deeper palliative care integration not only in hospice, but also across the health continuum, according to InHome Connect CEO Steve Wishart.
Texas-based InHome Connect provides community-based palliative care and support to family caregivers. A large strategic aim of the nonprofit is to reduce health care costs by leveraging innovative technology and collaborative care models.
