Forging Aligned Partnerships Between Value Based Care Organizations & Geriatric Emergency Departments: A Toolkit for Geriatric Emergency Departments
Value-Based Care Organizations (VBCOs) can often provide additional disposition options or outpatient resources that GED clinicians are not aware of or do not know how to easily access, such as acute care at home. At West Health, we believe that VBCOs and Geriatric Emergency Departments (GEDs) can forge aligned partnerships to improve the cost and care trajectory for older adults by reducing unnecessary admissions and improving transitions of care.
The purpose of this toolkit is to provide education on a structured approach and operational resources to aid GEDs in partnering with local VBCOs. The goal of the toolkit is to foster meaningful connections and provide a framework for GEDs to take actionable steps to build a collaborative project with a VBCO.
To forge aligned partnerships between VBCOs and GEDs, West Health Institute brought together three dyads in August 2023, charged with reducing inpatient visits originating from GEDs, among other aims. The VBCO-GED dyad partnerships and their improvement initiatives were as follows:
- Cleveland Clinic ACO & Cleveland Clinic Main Campus Level 1 GED: Integrate a new ACO program, “Home Care+”, that offers comprehensive, at-home, wrap-around services into GED disposition options.
- Integra Community Care Network & Care New England’s Kent Hospital Level 2 GED: Embed a new Integra nurse into the GED to identify Integra members and collaborate with ED clinicians to disposition Integra members to Integra’s home and community-based programs.
- UNC Health Alliance & UNC Hillsborough Level 2 GED: Connect rapid, out-patient, specialty care services into GED disposition options.
Overall, dyad partners averted 508 admissions, equating to $6,440,348.00 – $7,274,810.00 in gross service savings from September 30, 2023 to September 30, 2024.
