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Forging Aligned Partnerships Between Value Based Care Organization & Geriatric Emergency Departments: A Toolkit for Value Based Care Organizations

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      Geriatric emergency departments (GEDs) provide tailored, geriatric-specific care to older adults within the emergency department with the goal of transitioning patients to the most appropriate setting of care and avoid default in-patient hospital admissions. At West Health, we believe that Value Based Care Organizations (VBCOs) and GEDs can forge aligned partnerships to… Read more »

Creating High-value Care for Seniors Through Geriatric Emergency Department Partnerships

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      Being admitted to the hospital can be a disruptive and uncomfortable experience, especially for our aging patients. It is not uncommon for older patients to leave the hospital less functional and more cognitively impaired than when they entered the hospital. Geriatric emergency departments (GEDs) are specially designed to provide geriatric-specific emergency care…. Read more »

Protecting Patients from Unexpected Outpatient Facility Fees

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      As hospitals and health systems expand their ownership and control of ambulatory care practices, they are frequently charging new facility fees for routine medical services delivered in outpatient settings. Consumers, in turn, are facing greater financial exposure to these facility charges as insurance deductibles increase and payers develop new benefit designs that… Read more »

Price Markups for Clinical Labs: Employer‑based Insurance Pays Hospital Outpatient Departments 3X More Than Physician Offices and Independent Labs for Identical Tests

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      West Health in collaboration with the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) conducted an analysis of the high prices that employer-based insurance pays hospital outpatient departments for clinical lab tests. We found that insurers are paying 3 times more for identical tests (such as simple blood and urine tests) when billed by hospital… Read more »

Home-based Acute Care: Getting Started Guide

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The West Health Institute in collaboration with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement developed the Home-based Acute Care Getting Started Guide as part of our 2019-2021 work. This resource guides the process for designing and implementing home-based clinical and operational acute care models for older adults. Created by and designed for organizations in the early stages… Read more »

Characteristics of Home-Based Care Provided by Accountable Care Organizations

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By. Robert E. Mechanic, MBA; Jennifer Perloff, PhD; Amy R. Stuck, PhD, RN; and Christopher Crowley, PhD     OBJECTIVES: To describe the use of home-based services in accountable care organizations (ACOs). STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of 2019 ACO survey. METHODS: We analyzed surveys completed by 151 ACOs describing the characteristics of home-based care programs… Read more »

The Burden of Prescription Drug Prices on Seniors

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America’s seniors are increasingly finding it harder and harder to pay for prescription drugs. The 2021 Healthcare in America Report, published in December 2021, details the experiences and the impact these costs are having on seniors including skipping medications to save money or foregoing care all together.  Data Highlights More than 1 in 10 Americans… Read more »

Emergency Medical Technicians’ Perspectives on a Telehealth Facilitator Role to Expand Home-Based Primary Care: Pilot Study Results

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A growing body of literature supports telehealth-enabled emergency medical services (EMS) personnel acting in expanded roles in the pre-hospital setting. While paramedic-based community programs have shown great promise, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), who make up a larger percentage of the total number of nationally certified EMS personnel and generally have fewer options for career growth,… Read more »