A Conference for Patient Centered Post-Acute Care

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Abstract Care provided after hospitalization for older adults in skilled nursing facilities, long term care facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities or by home health agencies is defined as “post-acute care”. Post-acute care may be one of the most dynamic sectors of the American health care system. Spurred by national legislation, alternative payment models are driving integrated care models for hospitals and post-acute care providers who are increasingly sharing accountability for costs and outcomes of older adults. Reforms are rapidly taking effect, however, best practices for providing high-quality care across this continuum are unknown. Care in the post- acute period suffers from a lack of integration across clinical silos including the hospital, nursing facility, and home environment. This fragmentation prevents the establishment of sorely-needed “learning health care systems” to improve outcomes and lower costs across acute and post-acute care for older adults. In order to best leverage the opportunities presented by new reforms, it is essential to bring together the diverse stakeholders to build relationships, establish consensus on important issues in post-acute care, and chart a path forward. The Conference for Patient-Centered Post-Acute Care will bring together representatives from these silos including industry, policymakers and clinicians. Our aim is to promote collaboration, foster a patient-centered policy and research agenda, and serve as a hub for the identification and promotion of promising practices in post-acute care. We will accomplish these Aims through a novel conference format of 3 conferences with the mission of improving care for older adults in post-acute care. This national conference is designed to bring together academic, industry, policy stakeholders, and patients/caregivers. The goal is to promote collaboration within and across disciplines, a patient-centered policy and research agenda in post-acute care, and serve as a hub for the identification and promotion of novel initiatives. The intended audience includes researchers, policy makers, industry leaders and PAC clinicians. The first conference will address overarching questions with important implications for PAC, which will set the landscape for collaboration and discussion regarding: 1) National Policy 2) Clinical and Research Challenges/Opportunities and 3) Innovative Solutions. At this first conference, work groups will be formed to develop and execute a strategic plan throughout the 4-year grant period. We will evaluate the effect of the conference on attendees to establish new collaborations, will disseminate the content of this conference through publication of conference proceedings and a consensus white papers. Publications will be disseminated using major distribution channels for stakeholders including social media trade associations and academic society meetings. This conference grant will build in consecutive years on the ideas and relationships created in previous years, with different themes meant to capture the breadth of important topics in post-acute care.