Partners Home Care (PHC), Boston, a provider of home health, hospice, and private care services, has been recognized as one of the top performing agencies by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in a recently concluded seven-state project, according to the facility.
The project was designed to measure the benefits and possible savings of using home health care more for Medicare patients.
"This project has major implications for patients with chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure, pulmonary disease, and diabetes that often represent the most complex and costly group of conditions to care for. As the occurrence of these diseases tends to increase with age, these numbers are predicted to rise as the growing number of baby boomers approach retirement," said Judy Flynn, PHC’s VP for Patient Quality Care, in a statement. "If patients receive treatment and interventions that improve their functioning in their home environment, they gain more control over their disease process and can remain independent."
PHC was part of a group of agencies that participated in the project. PHC placed in the top 20% in the Northeast and scored well on several key measures, including a reduction in hospital use and emergent care, as well as improvement in important functional independence measures such as bathing and the ability to manage medications enabling people to remain in their own home, said the statement.
By using medication management, rehabilitation therapies, and proven interventions such as telemonitoring, patients have shown to do better in managing their illness and maintain a higher quality of life, says the statement. Patients are also more likely to avoid an admission to a hospital for an exacerbated problem or a nursing home for long term care, factors that significantly drive up the cost of Medicare, it adds.
"This demonstration project proves not only that home care can lower overall health care costs for Medicare but also signifies the important role the industry will have in health care reform and in the continuum of care in the future" said Chris Attaya, President and CEO Partners Home Care, in the statement.
PHC is one of the region’s largest nonprofit home health care providers, offering an array of home health care, hospice, and private care services in homes, assisted living communities, and nursing homes throughout Eastern Massachusetts. For more information please visit www.partnershomecare.org.
[Source: Partners Home Care]
