AMA News Wire Modernizing home health care to improve outcomes and efficiency

A recent survey of patients across Kentucky and southern Indiana who received care from Baptist Health Home Care found that 95% believed their care was either “excellent” or “very good.”

Thanks to a new joint venture, Baptist Health leadership hopes that percentage continues to increase.

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Earlier this year, Baptist Health announced a new collaboration with Alternate Solutions Health Network, a national home health leader. The joint venture will allow Baptist Health to enhance its service offerings across the two states and southern Illinois.

“As we looked at our home care services, we realized that we needed to be able to advance our capabilities in a way that would be very efficient from a management and a technology standpoint,” said Isaac J. Myers II, MD, chief health integration officer of Baptist Health and president of the Baptist Health Medical Group in Louisville. “What [this joint venture] does collectively is allow us to build upon what we’ve already done, grow our business model, and continue to deliver excellent quality care and service to our patients from the home care perspective.”

Isaac J. Myers II, MD

Baptist Health Medical Group is part of the AMA Health System Member Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.

Dr. Myers talked about the partnership and growing interest in home health services in a recent episode of “AMA Update.”

Providing care where it’s convenient Providing care where it’s convenient

“Home health services are all about providing patients with the care they need in the comfort of their own homes. Baptist Health has a team of nurses, therapists and social workers who will go to patients’ homes to help with recovery and advance their ability to take care of themselves,” Dr. Myers said.

“When I think about home care from a Baptist Health standpoint and our vision, it’s really about meeting the needs of our patients,” he said. “It’s just providing the right care, the right time, the right place, good quality, good service and outcomes, and the convenience of location for the patient and their family.”

In the year prior to the joint venture, caregivers from Baptist Health provided more than 96,000 home care visits. That care included nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech language therapy and social work services.

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Patients clearly appreciate the group’s services—based on its survey data—but as the population continues to grow and age, Baptist Health leadership wanted to find a way to advance its capabilities. One option was to continue adding new technology platforms, Dr. Myers said, but technology alone was not the ideal solution.

“We realized that we needed to grow our service, and we needed to do it in an efficient, cost-effective manner,” he said, noting that Alternate Solutions Health Network “really had excellent technology, excellent quality outcomes, excellent references. And we’re all about joint venturing when the opportunity is right.”

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Making home health care more efficient Making home health care more efficient

Alternate Solutions Health Network knows all about partnering. The organization has joint ventures with more than 90 multi-facility home health care and hospice health care systems across six states.

The experience Alternate Solutions Health Network already had in the market was one of the appealing aspects to Baptist Health, according to Dr. Myers.

“When we think about expansion, it’s more than being able to take on more volume in the same period of time,” he said. “What we’ve been able to do with our joint venture and their technology and the efficiencies that come with the technology that they bring to the table, we’re able to gather information and coordinate the care in a more efficient manner.”

That efficiency supports the group’s efforts to provide value-based care to its patients. By helping improve care transition processes and encouraging patients to proactively manage their health, Baptist Health is giving patients the tools necessary to have less hospital visits and readmissions.

“What this (joint venture) actually allows us to do is continue to deliver high-quality care,” Dr. Myers said. “It allows us to have the efficiency from the diagnosis, the operation aspect of the business, and continue to provide great outcomes with our patients.”

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