Healthcare partnerships are a proven path to better care, healthier communities

We live in an exciting time of change in the healthcare sector. In response to transitioning care-coordination models and changing reimbursement rules, providers are looking for innovative solutions that reward efficiency, improve quality and, above all, produce better outcomes for patients. 

To be most successful, providers must pool their strengths and resources to stay ahead of the curve and adapt to the rapidly changing healthcare landscape. Healthcare providers can no longer operate in silos, and industry leaders must be increasingly willing to identify their strengths and embrace meaningful collaboration. One way to do so is via joint venture partnerships. 

This was the approach taken by LifePoint Health, a national healthcare system and leader in the delivery of community-based care in 30 states, in forming a partnership with LHC Group, a leading national provider of home health and hospice services. Driven by a mutual desire to ensure the availability of quality healthcare across the continuum for their communities, which are predominantly non-urban areas, our two organizations saw a unique opportunity to combine our strengths and work together. 

We created a joint venture partnership that has allowed each organization to focus on what it does best. For a hospital system, that means providing quality care, while transitioning management of its home health and hospice needs and operations after discharge to our home health partner.
 
Since its establishment in 2016, the joint venture has grown to encompass 46 separate home health and hospice locations stretching across 24 different hospital service areas that provide a variety of services—from home health to end-of-life care. And we’ve just announced an expansion that added another three locations in November. Each of the jointly owned agencies succeed in enabling more precise management of care transition—strengthening the entire continuum of care that patients and their families receive, enhancing access to important services, and creating healthier communities. 

Under this model, patients in participating markets are evaluated by their physicians to determine whether home health services are needed. They can then be seamlessly referred to an affiliated partnership agency, or another agency of the patient’s choice. 

Joint ventures are most successful when the partnered entities share core beliefs. In our case that means knowing, when given a choice, that patients and families prefer to stay close to home; and that everyone deserves quality community-based healthcare close to home, regardless of their ZIP code. Our partnership supports this shared philosophy by ensuring patients don’t have to worry about the transition of care settings and providers. This model is successful because everyone is not just on the same page, they’re in regular contact, including regular board meetings and check-ins. 

Each partner has benefited from the expertise and resources the other provides, and patients have gained access to innovative tools that ensure they aren’t alone in their journey to recovery. 

Marrying an industry-recognized reputation for clinical quality and an established infrastructure for recruiting and training skilled home health staff with access to some of the most highly skilled employees in the hospital sector results in a win for both patients and providers. 

And the partnership has shown promising results. CMS quality star ratings across the entire system jumped to an average of 4.2, with 19 locations scoring above 4 stars—well above the national average. 

Perhaps most importantly, the joint venture approach leaves the door open for future innovation that includes delivering specialized follow-up care to patients at an elevated risk of readmission, which reduces readmission rates and saves on associated costs.
 
As communities across America demand better access to quality healthcare and more efficient coordination across the care continuum—and payers and providers remain keenly focused on pursuing efficiency and cost-saving reforms—partnerships that foster collaboration and support innovation will be vital to delivering more seamless healthcare for everyone.