Capitalizing on Change:Improving Value and Community Health

HFMA HSCRC WorkshopJanuary 31, 2014

Who We Are

• 275-bed hospital located in Western Maryland opened in 2009

• Consolidated two campuses into a new “greenfield” site

Western Maryland Health SystemCumberland, MD

• Located in one of the poorest counties in one of the nation’s richest states

• Skilled nursing facility with 88 beds

• Region’s largest employer with 2,200 employees

• 250 physicians on staff

• 1of 9 Trauma Centers in Maryland and the only Open Heart Surgery program west of Baltimore

• Part of a newly formed three health system group in Western Maryland called Alliance Health

Medicare56%

Medicaid13%

Self-Pay5%

Commercial12%

Other14%

Payor Mix

Facts About WMHS• $330 Million in operating revenues

• 14,000 admissions per year (projecting an ½ % increase over last year)

• 50,000 ED visits per year• 1,100 deliveries per year

• Over $300 million economic impact on the region annually

• Community Benefit of $48 for FY2013

Service Area

What is Total Patient Revenue Originally one of 10 Maryland hospitals as part of a

demonstration project A shift from volume-based care delivery to value based Encourages wellness and cost effective delivery of care

instead of caring for the ill and maximizing volumes Revenue is 100% fixed; no change based on

fluctuations in volume or changes in service Providing care in the most appropriate setting/location Previous competitors become partners with aligned

objectives

Transitioning to TPR

• Aging and declining population in our region• Volume changes• Payment cuts• Economic incentives offered by the HSCRC• Opportunity to jump on the learning curve• Triple aim of health care reform• Future of health care delivery

Initial Reasons

How Has the Focus of Planning Changed?Typical Strategic Plan

FOCUS: Fee for service-

More is Better• Grow Revenue• Grow Market Share• Increase Volumes

– Sell More– Do More

• Improve Quality

WMHS Strategic Plan FOCUS: Deliver Care

Differently• Care Delivery• Physician Collaboration• Patient Engagement• Business Model

– Cost Management– Partnerships– Unregulated Services

What Do We Need to Do to Be Successful?

Success

Think Innovatively

Redesign Care

Focus on Market

Competition

Align the Hospital and Physicians

Collaborate with TPR Hospitals

Reduce Costs

Managing Under TPR

• Shift emphasis from volume to value

• Reduce admissions & re-admissions

• Provide care in the most appropriate location

• Create stronger patient engagement

• Reduce variation in quality• Improve payment alignment

with physicians

• Re-invest savings• Work collaboratively with

community partners• Focus on better community

access• Increase health & wellness

activities on a regional basis• Reduce utilization rates in

ED, inpatient, observation and ancillary

• Improve chronic care delivery

Keys to Success

Our Challenge

“Reorganizing the delivery system is unbelievably resource intensive

and fraught with unintended consequences.”

Dr. Robert Galvin, Blackstone Consulting(former Chief Medical Officer for General Electric)

TPR Collaborative• The 10 hospitals under TPR formed a Collaborative

in year one of our agreement • Opportunity to exchange ideas & learn from each

other by sharing best practices• CEOs, CFOs, COOs meet monthly along with CMOs

and Care Coordinators• Engaged consultants to assist with development of

data & scorecards to track progress, show the differences between fee for service & TPR and creating keys to success

• Negotiated the next agreement as a Collaborative and not individually as was done the first time around

TPR Collaborative Hospitals

Reimbursement in Maryland

• Quality Based Reimbursement – based on improving patient satisfaction and core measure results (1% of revenue at risk)

• Pay for Performance – based on reducing potentially preventable conditions (3% of revenue is at risk)

• Increased focus on hospital-acquired conditions• Reducing re-admissions – yet to come but an

important component of TPR

Quality Indicators Affect Reimbursement

QBR for FY 12

Core Measures-$547,635

Potentially Preventable Conditions-$430,285

Patient Satisfaction-$234,701

Potentially PreventableReadmissionsImpact coming

Total Lost Revenue: $1.2 Million

QBR for FY 13

Core Measures$56,064

Potentially Preventable Conditions$129,954

Patient Satisfaction$24,028

Potentially PreventableReadmissionsImpact Coming

Positive Swing of $1,422,667

Engaging Physicians• Created the President’s Clinical Quality Council

- Twelve Physician Leaders/Early Adopters• Improved the coordination of care, both

internally and externally• Enhanced the quality of care provided• Created a Pay-for-Performance initiative• Used data to improve care• Focused on issues such as denials, LOS,

PPCs, readmissions and use rates• Addressed unnecessary inpatient care

Operational Challenges Under TPR• Address high utilizers with multiple co-morbidities -

1972 patients accounted for $140 million of annual cost

• Maintain market share while reducing admissions• Expand primary care access• Focus on unnecessary utilization & appropriateness

of Admissions• Decide what to do with volume growth programs• Educate the internal stakeholders on the changes in

care delivery• Meet the challenge of health care change by

reshaping the community’s approach to seeking care

Successful Strategies Under TPR

• Added primary care practices where our most vulnerable patients reside

• Created the Center for Clinical Resources consisting of a multi-disciplinary team of NPs, RNs, Dieticians, Pharmacists, Respiratory Therapists & Care Coordinators

• Partnered with newly opened urgent care centers as well as previous competitors

• Focused on keeping independent physicians who no longer admit engaged with the health system

Pre-Acute Care Focused

Successful Strategies Under TPR

• Targeted high utilizers of services - 1,972 patients • Focused on appropriateness of admissions

versus the number of admissions• Reviewed daily every readmission within 30 days

to determine the reasons for the readmission• Formed team of clinicians to round daily on

patients with a LOS of 3 days or longer• Moved to nurses rounding hourly on every patient

& performing shift report at the patient’s bedside

Acute Care Focused

Successful Strategies Under TPR

• Developed team of physicians & nurses to work with non-compliant physicians related to readmissions, use rates, denials, LOS & potentially preventable conditions

• Revamped our patient education program• Assigned Pharmacy staff to the ED & inpatient units

for medication reconciliation & rounding on patients• Created a dedicated care coordinator for

Behavioral Health

Acute Care Focused

Successful Strategies Under TPR

• Implemented Clinical Documentation Improvement program to ensure accurate documentation of POA conditions

• Started quarterly Hot Topics sessions for physicians and advanced practice professionals where focused education is needed and/or required

• Changed discharge planning process to cover patients until they see their primary care provider

• Began discharging patients with their medications

Acute Care Focused

Successful Strategies Under TPR

• Established a Care Link Coordination Team that follows up with all discharged patients with a focus on frequent utilizers & those over age 62

• Expanded Home Care resources to address a 35% increase in visits

• Created a team of Community Health Care Workers• Created Transition Care Coordinators within our own

skilled nursing facility & SNF community partners• Connected patients to services they will need post

discharge

Post-Acute Care Focused

Outcomes Under TPR & QBR

• Improved coding accuracy through use of software programs• Now perform a urinalysis on every patient to identify UTIs

present on admission • Better connection of patients to services they need post

discharge• Expanded Care Coordination 24/7 System wide w/

concentration in the ED• Created more partnerships with our physicians• Center for Clinical Resources staff visit high risk inpatients

prior to discharge• Much greater accountability on the part of staff in driving

quality & reducing cost

Process Improvements

Outcomes Under TPR & QBR

• Decreased tobacco use during pregnancy • Reduced the rate of Behavioral Health

admissions• Improved the infant mortality rate• Experienced improvement in cancer mortality

rate• Reduced the rate of ED visits for Asthma

Improved Community Health

Bottom Line

We have moved from a care delivery standard that emphasized convenience for us to the gold standard where care is delivered

as we would want it provided to us and every member of our family.

Results So FarInpatient Admissions 32% over 4 years

Readmissions to 9% in FY13 from high of 16.68% in FY11

SNF Readmissions by 38%

Inpatient Behavioral Readmissions 9% = $470K Savings

ED Use Rates 3% and ED Admissions 6%

Observation Patients 10%

Diabetic Readmissions 22 % and Diabetic ED Visits 29 %

CHF Readmissions 18% and ED Visits 8% = $383KSavings

Results So Far

Net Revenue Over Expenses In FY13

$15.1 Million or

5% Operating Margin

YTD for FY 14 is $12.1 Million or 8% operating margin

What’s Next

• Adding community care coordination in primary care clinics and physician offices

• Using home monitoring technology linked to Meditech• Expanding SNF Care Transition Coordinator to a SNFist

(Phy/NP) and taking the program to other SNF’s in the region

• Creating a dedicated Palliative Care program• Forming a Clinically Integrative Network with our

physicians and other partners, then establishing an ACO with our Alliance partners

• Expanding the Center for Clinical Resources to include medication management & high-risk renal patients

Creating More Value

What’s Next

• Continue to work on Community Health needs: Reducing ED visits for hypertension Lowering obesity rates for children and adults Decreasing tobacco use by adults Reducing drug-induced deaths

Improving Community Health

Successor TPR Agreement

• Continue to control cost; improve quality; create greater alignment with physicians; monitor utilization & strengthen our care coordination process

• Continued focus on reducing all-cause readmissions

• Get unnecessary cost out of the system / elimination of waste

• Improve the health status of the patients we serve

• Develop a scorecard for TPR hospitals

• Continue to re-invest the savings under TPR

• Expect to share savings with the State

Began as of July 1, 2013

Ongoing Challenges• Use rates are still too high• LOS has crept back up• More work needs to be done on PPCs/Hospital-Acquired

Conditions• Misaligned incentives with physicians• 30% rate of “no shows” for follow up appointments in the

Center for Clinical Resources• Although improvements have occurred in the overall

health of our population, work still needs to be done there, as well in areas such as social & economic needs

• Many social issues exist among our residents and patients; WMHS has become the safety net for the region

Concluding Thought

In the last three plus years, WMHS has become a very different organization by focusing on a value- based care delivery system and one that has been able to embrace the components of the triple aim of health care reform. It wasn’t easy in the beginning, but we are now much better positioned for a challenging health care future.

Questions?