The basic function of senior living healthcare is to offer support services that seniors need to perform basic, daily living activities. However, many managed care organizations (MCOs) and accountable care organizations (ACOs) overlook senior living communities when executing approaches and plans to provide effective care to vulnerable populations.

The high prevalence of functional impairment and chronic diseases in senior living, although challenging and costly, provide for a unique approach to value-based care that represents an opportunity many in the healthcare arena don’t yet appear to realize or don’t have the skill set, expertise, or appetite to execute.

What is Value-Based Healthcare?

Value-based healthcare is a healthcare solution focused on improving care quality and preventing avoidable medical errors that affect patients’ health. In value-based care, healthcare providers get reimbursement based on patients’ health outcomes. In other words, care providers are paid for improving patients’ health and outcomes rather than being paid for the quantity of services they offer. The mindset shift for providers is monumental.

Rather than focusing primarily on acute interventional medical needs, clinicians with a value-based care mindset focus on getting ahead of the acute needs of patients and concentrate on preventing exacerbations of chronic conditions in the first place. Our current system doesn’t do a good job of recognizing, compensating, or rewarding that behavior outside of certain value-based care models allowed by CMS.

If you operate a senior care facility, understanding value-based care’s many potential positive impacts on senior living communities is essential, as value-based healthcare can help seniors live healthier and longer lives.

Female nurse providing value based healthcare to elderly woman in a wheelchair
Image Credit: Ground Picture/Shutterstock

What are the Benefits of Value-Based Care Model?

The benefits of value-based healthcare for seniors extend to healthcare facilities, patients, communities, and society as a whole. Some of the benefits are:

  • Enhanced clinical strategies focused on helping patients recover from current health issues and teaching them how to maintain a healthy lifestyle to prevent future exacerbations of their chronic conditions.
  • Greater patient satisfaction. Spending more time on prevention-based approaches minimizes the time and cost used in treating uncomfortable and costly exacerbations of chronic illnesses. When patients feel satisfied with your services, they are likely to come back and recommend your services to others.
  • Payers control the cost of health and reduce risk. The fee-for-service approach transformed the US healthcare system into a business-oriented sector. With the risk of denied claims by insurance, healthcare facilities are forced to focus on providing quality care and reducing health risks.
  • Promotes a healthier society. Managing health issues affecting senior citizens is a positive step to creating a happy, thriving society. Less money is spent on managing chronic illnesses, allowing people to engage in more productive activities.
  • Lowers the cost of healthcare. Managing health conditions such as diabetes, heart and lung conditions, and high blood pressure through value-based care creates better outcomes at lower overall costs. Think of it like investing in staying well.

What Types of Value-Based Care Models are Available?

There are a variety of value-based care models, some of which are listed below:

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)

ACOs are providers who collaborate to provide the most effective healthcare service with minimal costs.

Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMH) 

The PCMH model coordinates care through primary care providers. PCMHs focus on establishing centralized care settings to address the various health needs of patients.

Bundled Payments 

The Bundled Payment model aims at reducing individual medical claims for each service a patient receives. Claims from multiple providers are combined and reimbursed as one.

Female elderly hands holding younger female hands
Image Credit: Africa Studio/Shutterstock

Choose Value-Based Healthcare from Curana Health

Senior communities require the utmost attention from healthcare providers in order to improve the quality of life of their resident population. Value-based care provides the necessary foundation to build an effective care setting. Partnering with organizations that facilitate transitioning to value-based care for seniors is essential.

Curana Health partners with healthcare professionals, facilities, and communities to improve care service delivery in senior living communities. Our collaborative care model creates seamless communication between patients, providers, and families, providing a collaborative system for quality healthcare services.

Curana’s approach to value-based care focuses on overall health through partnership and integration with senior living facilities—you don’t need to reorganize or re-staff to accommodate us. We are the best solution to senior residents’ care.

Curana’s services are run by physicians who understand effective care. We run clinics within Life Planning Communities, implement value-based care initiatives in settings all across the United States, and manage lives in 1,000 senior living communities. We specialize in enhancing quality care for the senior population.

Contact us to help you provide quality care for senior citizens.

Featured Image Credit: Dmytro Zinkevych/Shutterstock