Resource sharing could be a dream come true
Resource sharing could be a dream come true
Nurses, clinicians work where, when needed
In an era when continuous cost cutting is as prevalent as continuous quality improvement, finding ways to save on personnel expenses while expanding services may seem like a dream come true. But two projects are getting under way which, in time, may prove that it could become a reality.
Gary Cripps, PhD, administrator of Home Health Concepts in Smithville, TN, has started working on plans to open an outpatient physical therapy center. While that expansion of business will give him a line to an entirely new group of patients, one of the real benefits to his seven-nurse home care agency will be the ability of staff to move between the two parts of the business as needed. And if there is a particularly slow time, Cripps hopes to be able to use underutilized clinicians to contract with other small agencies. "I’ll hire them full time, but part of their salary will be paid for by contracting organizations."
Creating your business
In addition, some of the PT skills that the center will have — such as massage therapy — can then be offered to home care patients, he says. "You have to have the space, the personnel with the right skills, and a stable referral base," says Cripps. "If you have all that, you have the makings of a business."
Carl Rowe, PharmD, managing member of Integrated Care Communities Marino Valley, CA, is also starting a project that could prove staff sharing will work. Ground was just broken on a facility in nearby Riverside that will include a hospital, a long-term care facility, an assisted living complex, physicians offices, and a home care agency — among other things. Rowe believes the whole concept of providing a continuum of care for the growing tidal wave of elderly people will force the health care industry to look for new ways to provide that care.
In the public/private partnership on which he is working, one of the main goals is to deal with the problem of fluctuating staff needs at various health care facilities. "Organizations that are going to survive are going to have to focus on efficiency and increasing market share," says Rowe. "They will have to increase their sphere of influence." One way to achieve that goal is form alliances and create partnerships that provide for their patients and their payers with a complete continuum of care.
By partnering with various rungs on the health care ladder, Rowe adds, they can move both patients and staff seamlessly from one level to the next. If the patient census at the hospital is low, perhaps an outpatient rehabilitation facility needs a therapist, or a home care agency needs some nurses. Rowe is also toying with the idea that nurses can follow patients from one part of the continuum to the next — caring for the patient in the hospital, following to the rehab facility, and then into the home.
He recommends that agencies interested in forging the kind of partnerships that will allow resource sharing talk to government and volunteer agencies in your market. The local Office on Aging will have information on what kinds of services are needed and what parts of the post-hospital market are underutilized.
Cripps cautions that in large markets, you may have more access to the kinds of resources that will allow a sweeping program like that which Rowe is developing. In smaller markets, you might have to curtail your vision a bit.
You should also speak with your nurses, therapists, and aides to see how they feel about resource sharing. Rowe says he would be surprised if they weren't excited by the idea, but don't leave them out of the discussions.
"There is a window of opportunity before the baby boomers swell the ranks of the chronic geriatric population," says Rowe. "If you have underutilized resources and see a need for vertical integration, if you need more revenue, then this is a practical approach to reaching those goals."
Cripps agrees. "The future of health care is in providing the entire spectrum of services and cross staffing personnel to shift overhead to where the work is," he says. "In home care, we have to find ways to increase our patient load, diversify our services, and control our costs. This is one way to do it."
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