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The pressures on long-term care facilities are coming from all directions.
Demand? Aging Baby Boomers and an increase in complex medical conditions are driving the need for more beds and care.
Workforce? Long-term care (LTC) facilities have been dealing with staffing shortages since before COVID-19, but the situation has not fully recovered from the pandemic.
Finances? LTC facilities are closing or selling to private equity. Looming cuts to Medicaid are stretching margins.
Operating model? Broken.
There is no cure-all for these difficulties, but there is one step facilities can take that will help them and their patients significantly — partnering with an accountable care organization (ACO) designed specifically for them.
Because ACOs traditionally focus on community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries, many LTC facilities are simply unaware that they can partner with an ACO and do not understand the benefits of doing so.
Care coordination is at the heart of ACOs. Because LTC residents tend to be medically complex, they are often treated by a number of specialists in addition to their primary care provider, requiring more coordination of care.
