Adviser LeadingAge New York Winter 2014 Winter 2014

ENHANCING PARTNERSHIPS 29 Achieving the Triple Aim for the Dying Resident Eleanor Canning, vice president, Hospice Access & Program Development, VNSNY Hospice & Palliative Care, Inc. R ose S. has been a resident in your fine facility for 12 years. The staff can’t remember the last time she had a visitor from the outside. She affectionately calls your staff ‘her family’ and your facility ‘her home’. Rose is 94 years old, a widow for many years with no living children or siblings. Rose is counting on you as she has for the past 12 years to keep her safe, honor her wishes and speak for her when she can no longer speak for herself. What do you know about Rose? Like most people Rose wants to die in her own bed, in her home, comfortable and with loved ones. In her final days, a trusted hospice partner can help you provide the best patient experience for Rose and her family, your staff. The Triple Aim encourages healthcare providers to consider the patient experience, the needs of the population and the cost of care. The recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report “Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life” reminds us that in 2009, 28 percent of Medicare deaths occurred in nursing homes. Let’s look at how a partnership with quality hospice can help you help Rose. To enhance the patient experience your hospice partner should: • Have a passion for hospice care, evidenced by a willingness to integrate and promote teamwork with the facility care team. • • Demonstrate integrity in providing care by not overpromising, instead providing and documenting a patient-centered care plan that honors the resident’s wishes. Understand the role hospice can play in relieving pain and symptom burden that could result in an unwanted hospitalization for Rose. To enhance population health your hospice partner should: • • Be responsive to your inquiries, referrals and admissions to hospice care. A quality hospice can provide an experienced liaison, in person or by telephone, to help evaluate the resident’s clinical eligibility for hospice and support the staff by having the conversation about selecting hospice care. Participate in quarterly partnership meetings, collaborate on mutual quality initiatives to develop strategies to reduce short length of stay on hospice and patients ‘not taken under care’. To respect the cost of care your hospice partner should benchmark performance: • Align quality metrics with the nursing facility such as reduced readmissions to hospitals, serious safety events, percent deaths supported by hospice, patient satisfaction metrics, percent patients comfortable, percent admissions within 24 hours. (Continued on page 30) Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Winter 2014

Adviser LeadingAge New York Winter 2014 Winter 2014 | Page 30