Introduction:
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services bundled payment for care improvement advanced (BPCI-A) program incentivizes providers to better coordinate care, reduce expenses, and improve quality. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of improving post-acute care coordination after stroke on quality and resource utilization in the BPCI-A program.
Methods:
Capital Health collaborated with post-acute providers to improve communication, identify criteria for early supported discharge to the community, expedite home health and outpatient services, reduce readmissions, and initiate advanced care planning. The redesigned post-acute care coordination program was implemented at Capital Health’s primary and comprehensive stroke center. Quality outcomes and resource utilization measures for patients enrolled in the BCPI-A program were compared to BPCI-A eligible patients prior to program implementation.
Results:
Forty-three patients enrolled in the BCPI-A program were compared to 77 patients eligible for enrollment. Clinical and demographic characteristics were similar (p>.05). After program implementation, 21.5% fewer patients were discharged to an inpatient rehabilitation facility (p=.024) and 14% more patients were discharged to inpatient hospice (p<.001). On average, post-acute cost decreased $16,608 per patient (p=.007) resulting in a $16,820 reduction in the 90-day cost per episode (p=.011). The 90-day hospital readmission rate decreased insignificantly by 14.1% from 23.4% to 9.3% (p=.056). Hospital cost, hospital length of stay and the 90-day mortality rate were unchanged (p>.05).
Conclusion:
The coordination of post-acute services facilitates care transitions after stroke. The identification of patients meeting criteria for early supported discharge to the community or admission to inpatient hospice helped reduce post-acute cost without increasing 90-day readmission or mortality.
Tailored post-acute care coordination for survivors of moderate to severe COVID-19 infection