Following a year full of ups and downs, one of the nation’s largest home health care providers is striving to become an overall “aging in place company” by increasing its partnerships across the provider and payer spectrum, including by taking on more risk-sharing.
After finishing the implementation of Homecare Homebase on time on Nov. 1 2016 and ending 2016 with hospice flourishing, employee engagement up and turnover down, the next goal is for Amedisys (Nasdaq: AMED) to become a one-stop shop that hospitals and the government will turn to for all aging in place needs, president and CEO Paul Kusserow said at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Wednesday afternoon.
Headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Amedisys has pinpointed an increase in risk as a top priority in the coming years, and to do so it must become more innovative and data-driven. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and similar coordinated and managed care models offer financial incentives for member providers that can lower costs while delivering quality outcomes—but these providers also may be at risk for penalties if they do not hit goals.
“We will need to be innovative when it comes to information and data in the future to be able to take any risk because without information or data, you just can’t take risks,” he said. “We need to build better methods and track better data with the hope of becoming an aging in place company.”
It is no longer good enough to just have exceptional clinical skills—nonclinical skills are just as vital. Even though the company already has a database, it’s more about using the data to the fullest extent and building more analytical capabilities, Kusserow explained.
“We have a rich database, but are building it out even further to be able to predict things like readmission rates,” he said. “Then once we are confident in it we can really start to use that data to make individualized care plans.”
In addition to its own data, Amedisys is currently in discussion with other players in the market about sharing their data, Kusserow added.
And the company is confident to take on innovation after a host of new hires including a new COO and CFO last year.
“We feel very good about where we’re going in the next few years,” said Kusserow. “We brought on new team members, a new COO and CFO from Kindred. We needed that executional ability, so we went out and got it.”
Written by Alana Stramowski
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