De-Fragmenting Healthcare

LHC Group, a national provider of in-home healthcare services, is the preferred partner for 350 leading hospitals nationwide. Dr. Nguyen has over 25 years of healthcare experience–first as a physician and now as an expert in population health and value-based care, with senior roles in large integrated delivery systems and national health plans. She created and led clinically integrated networks and MSSP ACOs, and held senior roles at Humana and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

TN: Currently, the hospital is the water’s edge in continuity, while post-acute care operates in silos. Post-acute services are a large portion of our overall healthcare expenditures, but are generally uncoordinated. As an unmanaged and unstructured part of our nation’s healthcare system, post-acute care is one of the last frontiers, and we want to change that. LHC Group consistently achieves industry-leading performance across all dimensions of the “Quadruple Aim” (better care, better patient experiences, better provider experiences, and affordable healthcare). LHC Group is focused on patient well-being and performing as a value added partner within the healthcare ecosystem (to drive care delivery transformation), as evidenced by our investments in provider alignment assets, data analytics, and adoption of telehealth capabilities.

The challenge lies in bringing common sense continuity to a complex and fragmented healthcare system.  Timely access to care and sharing of health information at the point of care continues to be a challenge. As a home health provider caring for patients with multiple chronic and complex conditions, we see this fragmentation firsthand. One of our many strategies for defragmenting care is to integrate and partner with health systems. Our partnerships help provide seamless collaboration with primary care teams, specialists, and hospitals. Another strategy we are deploying by the end of 2019 is sharing our clinical records with providers on Carequality. We serve as patient advocates by breaking down the health information silos. We collect meaningful health information (including social determinants of health) that facilitates seamless collaboration with health systems, payers, and other providers in the healthcare ecosystem–reducing rehospitalizations and increasing efficiency by expanding home health services.

TN: Many payers don’t fully appreciate the role of home healthcare and continue to push payment rates down, attracting lower quality providers. Medicare Advantage plans don’t recognize the full extent of potential savings because of outdated payment models. Paying unsustainably low per-visit rates, along with increased administrative burdens, has been counterproductive. Home health providers see, hear, and experience firsthand the challenges of our patients–from their clinical status, to their living conditions, to the everyday challenges they face when navigating the complexities of their healthcare services. High quality home health lowers the total cost of care–it’s a fact. LHC Group is demonstrating that now with payers and health systems that understand this. A great example is our partnership with Ochsner Health System, where we achieved a 58 percent reduction in utilization of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) by leveraging our home and community based services and applying deep workflow and clinical data integration.

TN: Here’s where LHC Group has developed a good deal of insight and positively impacted outcomes – through experience in managing risk and leveraging claims data that tell us about a patient’s entire journey. Through our ACO management company Imperium Health, we’ve taken a hands-on, collaborative approach where we work closely with physicians to determine how to manage large patient populations. How do we meet the needs of complex and high-cost patients and those who require ongoing preventive care? By paying attention to the entire patient experience.

Recently, the focus is on driving down the cost of post-acute care. As a high value home healthcare provider, we continue to be a cost-effective partner for payers, CINs/ACOs, and hospital systems – improving patient outcomes and reducing readmissions while delivering industry-leading patient satisfaction results. Our path to greater value in the healthcare ecosystem includes ongoing investments and innovations that leverage technology, alongside new care and payment models, to provide more convenient and intensive home services that were traditionally delivered in other higher cost settings.

To learn more about LHC Group, Inc., visit lhcgroup.com/bettertogether.