Improved outcomes, increased quality of care and decreased
hospital readmissions decrease costs for patients and families during serious
illness or at end of life, while reducing tolls on Medicare
FLAT ROCK, N.C. – Four Seasons Compassion for Life today was
notified they are the prospective recipients of a $9,596,123 grant award from
the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, a program of the federal
Department of Health and Human Services. The non-profit agency emerges as the
sole hospice and palliative care provider nationwide chosen to implement health
care reform over a three year period through its innovative community care
model designed to deliver better care outcomes and lower costs.
An award-winning, hospice and palliative care industry
leader, Four Seasons maintains a consistent track record of reducing costs while
improving patient outcomes during serious, life limiting illness. In
conjunction with its collaborative partner, Palliative Care Center and Hospice
of Catawba Valley, Newton, Four Seasons will test a new model for
community-based palliative care across the continuum of care spanning
in-patient and outpatient settings.
The Four Seasons community palliative care model (CPC)
removes barriers to patient care due to location, socio-economics, ethnicity or
minority status, and fragility of medical condition. The model features interdisciplinary
collaboration and the integration of palliative care into the health care
system, continuity of care across transitions, and longitudinal, individualized
support for patients and families – with the ultimate goals of increased
quality of care and decreased hospital readmissions.
An estimated 8,000 Medicare beneficiaries and their families
will receive integrated health services in western North Carolina through the
project. Of these, 78 percent will receive care through Four Seasons, and 22
percent will receive care through Palliative Care Center and Hospice of Catawba
Valley.
Historically, the CPC model has been shown to improve
outcomes for patients as well as the experiences of family and professional
care providers, says Dot Moyer, chairman of the Four Seasons Board of Directors.
“Four Seasons is being given an opportunity to prove the
value of palliative care, and not only to the healthcare industry,” says Moyer.
“The patients and families we serve report high satisfaction with their care
experiences. Now the high quality of care for which we’re known will become
increasingly valued and more widely available, not only in western North
Carolina, but nationwide.”
Clinical and financial results of the project will be
monitored through partnership with Duke University. The findings will translate
into potential finance models to assist Medicare beneficiaries who struggle
with advanced, life-limiting illnesses. The data generated will also provide national
benchmarks for other palliative care organizations to improve patient outcomes.
The awarded project, formally titled “Increasing Patient and
System Value with Community-based Palliative Care,” results from a community-academic
partnership between lead investigators Janet Bull, M.D., chief medical officer
with Four Seasons, Don Taylor, Ph.D., of the Duke Sanford School of Public
Policy, and Amy Abernethy, M.D., of the Duke Center for Learning Health Care
and the Duke University Medical Center. This project is the latest in a long
line of productive collaborations between Four Seasons and Duke University that
Bull and Abernethy began nearly a decade ago.
“Our goal is to translate this experience into a new
palliative care financing approach to Medicare, one which is sustainable and
replicable,” says Bull.
The implementation of the CPC model and the palliative care
financing approach are expected to save the federal government more than $29 million
in cost of care annually.
Current evidence demonstrates that palliative care yields
overall cost savings for Medicare while improving outcomes, says Chris Comeaux,
chief executive officer of Four Seasons.
“The top 10 percent
of Medicare beneficiaries account for over half of total program spending, and
more than one-quarter of that spending is incurred during the last year of
life,” he says. “The project is expected to directly reduce costs of care for
patients with advanced or life limiting illness.”
The “Triple Aim” of higher quality, better service and lower
costs are an achievement to which healthcare providers aspire. With its
partners at Palliative Care Center and Hospice of Catawba Valley, Duke
University, and other providers across western North Carolina, Four Seasons commits
to making that aim a reality for the residents of its communities, says
Comeaux.
About Four Seasons
Four Seasons Compassion
for Life is a 501c3 non-profit organization with a dedicated team of health
care professionals, social workers, spiritual care professionals and volunteers
deeply committed to its mission of co-creating the care experience. Nationally
known for its leadership in innovative, quality hospice and palliative care
services, Four Seasons is a former Circle of Life award recipient from the
American Medical Association. For more information, visit http://www.fourseasonscfl.org.
