UnityPoint Accountable Care is a great model of how an organization can provide more consistent and effective care by leveraging evidence-based guidelines
SEATTLE (PRWEB) March 15, 2018
MCG Health, a leading provider of informed care strategies and part of the Hearst Health network, has named UnityPoint Health a recipient of the 2017 Richard L. Doyle Award. UnityPoint Health will receive their $10,000 award at MCG’s annual Client Forum in Phoenix, AZ.
UnityPoint Accountable Care, an accountable care organization (ACO), was recognized for creating a successful post-acute care network using evidence-based guidelines from MCG. The goal was to improve length of stay (LOS) for their Medicare population within skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Additionally, they wanted to implement a network across all of their regions, improve the level of collaboration and onsite relationships, and be able to measure and monitor performance of the facilities. To help them reach their goal, they leveraged MCG Recovery Facility Care guidelines via the Indicia software. Reports from MCG gave them timely information about average length of stay by region and by facility, as well as information on trending discharge dispositions to ensure patients were receiving the necessary post-acute care services.
After one year, their average LOS dropped 7%. Additionally, the variation in average LOS from region-to-region narrowed significantly, making care across their network more consistent and outcomes more predictable. Their post-acute care team members are now empowered to contribute valuable data and insight to their SNF partners throughout the discharge planning process and assist with the transitioning of their patients to home as quickly and safely as possible. The acute and post-acute care settings are collaborating effectively; team members are visiting facilities more often than ever before, and becoming more involved with care planning, medication reconciliation, and discharge planning. Utilization of the MCG tool has not only lowered average length of stay for the UnityPoint Accountable Care network, but readmission rates have also dropped.
“The success of UnityPoint Accountable Care is a great model of how an organization can provide more consistent and effective care by leveraging evidence-based guidelines as part of an informed care strategy,” says Jon Shreve, CEO and President of MCG.
“UnityPoint Accountable Care is proud to accept the 2017 Doyle Award,” said Aric Sharp, Vice President at UnityPoint Accountable Care. “Our efforts to use technology from MCG, in a standard way across our health system, has led to marked improvement for patients in the post-acute setting. Our results are yet another example of how we are transforming our organization and markets for better quality at a lower cost.”
The Richard L. Doyle Award will be presented to UnityPoint Health at MCG’s annual Client Forum in Phoenix, Ariz., May 15-18, 2018. At the conference, representatives from UnityPoint Health will discuss how they leveraged MCG informed care strategies to achieve their award-winning outcomes. Full details and registration for this event can be found here.
About UnityPoint Health
UnityPoint Accountable Care is a network of over 7,750 physicians and providers in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri. In 2016, it was one of the largest participants in the Next Generation ACO Model and is a leader in industry transformation through its participation in the Next Generation ACO Model.
UnityPoint Health® is one of the nation’s most integrated health systems. Its physician-led team of professionals communicates clearly and effectively to address a patient’s health care in the most appropriate setting: whether that is a clinic, a hospital or at home. Through relationships with more than 290 physician clinics, 38 hospitals in metropolitan and rural communities and home care services, UnityPoint Health provides care throughout Iowa, western Illinois and southern Wisconsin.
UnityPoint Health entities employ more than 30,000 employees, working toward innovative advancements to deliver the Best Outcome, Every Patient, Every Time®. Each year, through more than 6.2 million patient visits, UnityPoint Health, UnityPoint Clinic® and UnityPoint at HomeSM provides a full range of coordinated care to patients and families. With total annual operating revenue of $4.4 billion, UnityPoint Health is the nation’s 13th largest nonprofit health system and the fourth largest nondenominational health system in America.
About MCG
MCG, part of the Hearst Health network, helps healthcare organizations implement informed care strategies that proactively and efficiently move patients toward health. MCG’s transparent assessment of the latest research and scholarly articles, along with our own data analysis, gives patients, providers and payers the vetted information they need to feel confident in every care decision, in every moment. For more information visit http://www.mcg.com or follow our Twitter handle at @MCG_Health.
About Hearst Health
The Hearst Health network includes FDB (First Databank), Zynx Health, MCG, Homecare Homebase, MedHOK,Hearst Health International, Hearst Health Ventures and the Hearst Health Innovation Lab (http://www.hearsthealth.com). The mission of Hearst Health is to help guide the most important care moments by delivering vital information into the hands of everyone who touches a person's health journey. Each year in the U.S., care guidance from the Hearst Health network reaches 84 percent of discharged patients, 177 million insured individuals, 60 million home health visits, and 3.1 billion dispensed prescriptions.
About The Richard L. Doyle Award for Innovation and Leadership in Healthcare
The Doyle Award was developed to recognize organizations that make innovative use of the care guidelines to help deliver effective healthcare.
Dr. Doyle, the care guidelines founding editor, was a hospital chief-of-staff when he began creating clinical guidelines in the 1980s to help improve healthcare efficiency and quality at Mercy Hospital in San Diego. He later joined Milliman & Robertson and in 1990 published the first set of what was to become the care guidelines.
Judges for this award are independent healthcare quality experts, not currently associated with MCG. Applicants were judged on how well their projects supported the MCG mission to help drive effective care. Judges looked for evidence of improvements in healthcare quality and patient safety; patient/member satisfaction; staff efficiency, productivity and satisfaction; internal/external communication; and effective use of resources.