Transforming the Home Healthcare Industry

I had the great privilege yesterday of participating in the Homecare 100 Regional Roundtable in Cleveland, Ohio. The Home Care 100 is a small group of homecare and hospice CEOs invited to come together and discuss our most pressing industry issues. It was a tremendously valuable opportunity to leverage the experiences and knowledge of senior executives from all over the region.

We explored topics such as the implications of healthcare reform, consumer demographics, technological advances, and financial markets.

Some key points I would like to share:

• As an industry, we need to be proactively advocating. It is imperative that we build a case for homecare and hospice as an integral part of our healthcare system – one that has established evidence-based care, proven outcomes, creates innovative solutions and technology, and can reduce overall costs.
• It is the fundamental belief of this group of leaders that efforts like those we are making in advancing virtual care and care transitions initiatives need to be a core part of our business strategy.
• The group agreed that the Medicaid and managed care population is growing, and we will need to find efficient, effective ways to serve this population.
• The Accountable Care Organization model is raising a lot of mixed thoughts and opinions, but there is no doubt that high quality, low cost, pay for performance (P4P), care coordination, and care transitions are where our energies and focus should be.
• The Face-to-Face Encounter Rule is frustrating everyone in various ways. My opinion is that we need to quit fighting with Congress over whether it is needed or not. I must say I would want it for my own grandma. I would want to know her doctor has seen her and expressed his or her instructions for why and what is needed. But… it does need a better infrastructure and integration into the health information exchange. As an innovator, it is great to see Celtic Healthcare leading the way in integrating this new regulation into our processes through our proprietary technology and culture of change management.

I am so proud of Celtic Healthcare’s technology and innovation in this industry. Having our own information strategy and technology has enhanced our pursuit for excellence and best practices. There is no doubt that the healthcare industry is evolving. It is exciting to know that we are not only prepared, but also developing programs and systems to transform our industry.

Warm regards,

Arnie