[Sponsored] 4 Tips to Proving Outcomes for Hospice Palliative Care

As the post-acute care landscape shifts to a value-based payment landscape, all post-acute care types are tasked with developing ways to demonstrate outcomes.

This is true for home health care and skilled nursing under the new payment models taking effect in 2019 and 2020 under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), but also for hospice palliative care, which often is a referral partner for other care providers.

“It’s critical for these care partners to not only say they are driving outcomes, but for them to actually prove their outcomes,” says Cheryl Reid-Haughian, VP of clinical informatics for care delivery solution CellTrak and the author of a recent article, “Transforming Hospice Palliative Care Point-of-Care Documentation.” “Proof is quickly becoming paramount.”

Advertisement

There are four key areas where hospice palliative care providers can focus to integrate patient outcome measures, as a means to prove those outcomes: Leadership vision and principles; clinical outcome measurement and transparency; integration of evidence-informed practice; and technology as an enabler.

1. Leadership vision and principles

Achieving measured patient-centered care starts at the top with an organization’s leadership. The leadership needs to understand the value of patient outcome measurement and must share that vision and commitment throughout the organization including fellow leaders, clinical management and frontline staff.

“A value-based proposition as the foundation for a shared vision where everyone on the care team are equal partners and have a voice establishes new possibilities for the best patient care possible,” Reid-Haughian writes.

Advertisement

2. Clinical outcome measurement

Clinical outcomes measurement requires not only a scientific approach, but a holistic look at physical, spiritual, psychosocial and cultural patient indicators. This also means differentiating between service and care measures. Some outcomes will be patient-reported and others will be reported by the care provider, with different measures being geared toward various patient populations in hospice palliative care.

3. Evidence-informed practice and decision making

Evidence and research are also critical components of measuring patient outcomes. This includes literature, data and learning as building blocks for dashboards that can be used throughout the care organization — including at the point of care.

4. Technology Enablement

Ultimately, technology makes care delivery and measurement more seamless and accurate, with functions like smart form logic, pre-population of data and other elements allowing care staff to focus on care and reduce time spent on documentation.

“The right technology solutions will not only lead to efficiencies in workflows, but they will also save resources by providing data in real-time and connecting the care team with the information it needs,” Reid-Haughian says.

The shift to value-based care is leading many organizations to change their leadership and documentation practices, as well as to develop an evidence-based approach to clinical management and care delivery.

Technology can enable hospice palliative care organizations to make this shift more seamless and support teams through the journey to value-based care. Click here to download CellTrak’s white paper on Transforming Hospice Palliative Care Point of Care Documentation.

Companies featured in this article: