Thought Leadership
Our Founder and CEO, Jeremy Powell recently sat down with Dr. Karen Wyatt, End of Life University to participate in a podcast: “Technology Advances for End-of-Life Care”. During this episode, Jeremy and the host discuss how technology can help solve some of the greatest challenges in the provision of end-of-life care, how technology can help more patients be referred for hospice and palliative care in a timely manner, and why technology should be embraced.
Dr. John Mulder and Acclivity were recently featured in The Hospice Explained podcast entitled, Dr. John Mulder – Pioneering Member of Palliative Care Specialty. This podcast series covers topics spanning the differences between palliative and hospice, how technology can impact healthcare, and the stigma of other Doctors referring to hospice or palliative care for their patients.
Our very own, Dr. John Mulder, recently sat down with Dr. Karen Wyatt of End of Life University in her newest podcast episode: “Palliative Care: What’s Needed Now and in the Future”. During their conversation, they covered topics spanning Dr. Mulder’s background and how he got into the specialty, the difference between hospice and palliative care, addressing physician burnout, improving patient outcomes and quality of life, the importance of educating peers, attracting new talent, as well as his work with Acclivity and how technology can assist with referrals.
Across the country, hospice organizations are competing for clinical staff from the same limited pool of eligible applicants. Even before COVID, demand for clinicians, nurses, and social workers outpaced supply. The pandemic has exacerbated the shortage, resulting in early retirements or resignations from the field to focus on non-patient care areas or different careers altogether.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the U.S. will need 11 million additional nurses over the next decade to avoid further shortage[1]. With inadequate faculty to teach new nurses and a limited number of preceptorships available to train them, meeting the demand for registered nurses may be close to impossible. The shortage of social workers, especially in rural areas, is estimated in the tens of thousands and also creating challenges. The field is not attracting enough new workers to replace retiring Baby Boomers. At the same time, multiple sectors are competing for social workers with the advanced degrees required for the job.
Since we can’t magically increase the number of licensed clinicians available for hire, it’s time to reimagine the way hospices use staff to manage the care of patients and meet both their medical and social needs.
Read moreNo one knows how to manage your ACO’s unique group of providers and patient population better than you and your management team. However, in order to maximize shared savings and bonuses, you need the right analytics to identify, monitor, and manage opportunities to improve population health management and reduce total costs of care.
Because the United States healthcare system is fragmented, critical healthcare data is siloed within healthcare organizations, clinics, independent practices, and payer organizations. Interoperability between organizations is hampered by issues that include ownership of data, differences in data interpretation, privacy concerns, and limitations in technology.
If you’re managing an ACO, it may seem impossible to get a 360o view of your provider and patient populations, with complete spend visibility and an understanding of patient and provider behaviors. You may be able to see what patients in your population have been the highest utilizers in the past, but that only takes you so far.
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While many organizations work to transform healthcare delivery, the truth is that innovation in healthcare is driven by the largest payer in the country, Medicare. As CMS works to move the industry away from fee-for-service and toward value-based care, how will it affect your primary care practice going forward? Could you, for example, welcome a system where you can decide how much time you spend with patients — especially seriously ill patients — based on their needs, without worrying about how you’ll be compensated?
In this episode, we look at CMS’s newest innovation program, Primary Care First (PCF), and the potential financial benefits and flexibility it provides. John Dickey, Chief Operating Officer of Acclivity Health, explains why primary care practices should consider participating and how advanced analytics can help you benefit from being a participant. He reviews how the program has impacted revenue for the first PCF Cohort that began in January 2021, with some surprisingly positive results!
Home care practices are now preparing for new CMS payment models and understanding new ways to make value-based care work for their organizations and their patients. To hear industry experts compare and contrast value-based payment options, including insights from Acclivity Health’s CEO Jeremy Powell and COO John Dickey, listen to the first installment of the American Academy of Home Care Medicine’s webinar series.
Acclivity Health is a member of the American Academy of Home Care Medicine. This webinar was presented in partnership with AAHCM
Hospice providers have increasingly adopted predictive analytic systems to identify patients in need of their services further upstream in their disease trajectory, as well as to demonstrate their value to payers and referral partners, including Medicare Advantage plans. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin allowing hospices to participate in Medicare Advantage in 2021 with the value-based insurance design demonstration project.
Change is coming for hospices in 2021 as the industry starts to shift towards value-based payment models, including the Primary Care First initiative. As the implementation dates for these programs approach, hospices need to identify the value proposition and revenue potential for each of the models that will fall under the auspices of that program.
The leadership team at Acclivity Health recently wrote a peer reviewed article that was published in April issue of The American Journal of Managed Care. Here’s an excerpt of the abstract:
Palliative and hospice care services produce immense benefits for patients living with serious illness and for their families. Due to the national shift toward value-based payment models, health systems and payers share a heightened awareness of the need to incorporate palliative and hospice services into their service mix for seriously ill patient populations.
During the last decade, a tremendous amount of capital has been invested to better integrate information technology into healthcare. This includes development of technologies to promote utilization of palliative and hospice services. However, no coordinated strategy exists to link such efforts together to create a cohesive strategy that transitions from identification of patients through receipt of services.