The divide between post-acute and acute care providers has been shrinking for years. Today, with COVID-19 pandemic exposing vulnerabilities and gaps in the healthcare continuum, the importance of finally bridging that gap has never been clearer.
Here, Tom Vasko, BSN, president of Virginia Beach, Va.-based LGS Legacy Care, an independent medical group providing post-acute care, behavioral health services primary care and transitional care management to communities nationally, answers five questions on the post-acute care landscape.
Note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Question: What were some pre-pandemic trends that were reshaping the post-acute care landscape? How has COVID-19 influenced these trends and post-acute care more broadly?
Tom Vasko: The pre-COVID attention or trends in post-acute care consisted, and still remain, in the areas of enhanced care models, institutional special needs plans programs (I-SNPs) to transition from volume to value tandemly with cost of care reduction. Ownership of the patient’s journey and outcomes, historically, was placed in the clinical environment the patient currently resided or was currently being seen within. In today’s world, healthcare provider organizations (HPOs) are tied to the patient’s outcomes post discharge. This positive movement in developing ownership has brought accountability to all. Yet, the technology enablement and the ability to fund such initiatives has been challenging. However, the impact of COVID-19 has brought exposure to the deficiencies and has resulted in greater progress in identifying, creating and deploying solutions. In response, we are seeing more and more private equity and venture capitalists injecting investment dollars into the post-acute space and enabling organizations such as Legacy Care to bring tangible solutions to the table.
Q: What are some barriers to successful care transitions? How can providers overcome these barriers?
TV: I remember as a nursing student working on balancing a code in the intensive care unit, providing direct care for a patient and working on a discharge into the post-acute care setting all at once. Reflecting, I believed then it would become easier with experience and the truth is, it never does. I chose a career away from the bedside to increase access to tools my colleagues need to be successful. The days of printing discharge paperwork, placing it on the patient’s chest, making a fragmented transition phone call, and putting them on a transport ride to a post-acute care facility is over. The responsibility of the patient’s outcome doesn’t end at the discharge door. In fact, it’s just begun and this is where Legacy Care thrives. The ability to bridge gaps in transitions through alliances and the Legacy Care Model is proving its successful. We want to ensure the HPOs and post-discharge clinical environments don’t disconnect at the point of transition, but rather continue to collaborate and manage the case. This is how we become patient
advocates.
Actions speak louder than words, fear is paralyzing, and tackling the level of our challenges in healthcare requires more than elbow grease. It requires a level of confidence and perseverance that is not pedestrian in nature. Fear and a lack of knowledge when transforming thought into tactical execution has been a barrier for decades, not only with care transitions but healthcare
advancements more broadly.
Q: What role does technology play in successfully executing care transitions?
TV: COVID-19 shed light on the importance of supporting care management with technology. Working in Health IT most of my career, the change management, adoption, linking of clinical process to technology has been both rewarding and challenging. The importance of alliances, accountability and appetite for change is equally important to our technology tools and programs. Without accountability and change management measures technology solutions just become another shiny object in the closet.
Q: What distinguishes LGS Legacy Care in this space?
TV: Simplistically, our ability to bridge the gap of care transition through the application and mastery of people, process and technology. It’s also important to note our culture and the talent of our teams. We are tackling complex and urgent needs of healthcare. This requires the most committed and talented members of our nation’s workforce. It is impossible for me to reach every employee, client, clinical partners and our patients on a daily basis. Therefore, I’ve focused on cultivating a leadership team comprised of individuals who come to the table with passion, entrepreneurial spirit and endurance.
Legacy Care focuses on the collaboration across the entire care continuum. We are stewards of care transition, walking the care journey with the patient and delivering evidenced-based care through technology, clinical practices and predictive analytics. We are able to predict readmission through risk analysis, rank acuity with predictive algorithms and deliver access to care regardless of the patient’s geographic or clinical environment.
Q: What makes for a great partnership between hospitals and post-acute providers?
TV: Our partnerships have been rewarding for our organization and frankly, the secret of our success. The accountability placed on acute providers and the post-acute facilities by CMS standards and the consumer, has highlighted importance of such relationships. We are beginning to see organizations open their doors and minds to a more unified approach to patient care. Reimbursement, cost containment, readmission penalties, length of stay and patient recruitment, all demand unification of a multi-faceted care team.
been shrinking for years. Today, with COVID-19 pandemic
exposing vulnerabilities and gaps in the healthcare
continuum, the importance of finally bridging that gap has never
been clearer.
Here, Tom Vasko, BSN, president of Virginia Beach, Va.-based
LGS Legacy Care, and independent medical group providing
post-acute care, behavioral health services primary care and
transitional care management to communities nationally, answers
five questions on the post-acute care landscape.
Note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.