JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (July 27, 2021)—Willamette Valley Hospice & Palliative Care, Acclivity Health,and Reliance eHealth Collaborative have partnered to improve care coordination for hospice, palliative, and seriously ill patients in Oregon. Information is not always able to be shared between doctor’s offices, hospitals, and hospice and palliative care providers. This makes it harder to get a patient the care they need in a timely manner. This partnership is closing the communication gap between healthcare groups by offering a way providers can easily and securely connect and collaborate on the best care for their patients.
“Our goal is to ensure patients with advanced illness receive the right care at the right time in the right setting,” said Jeremy Powell, CEO of Acclivity Health. “Clinical care coordination between primary care providers, hospice and palliative organizations, homecare providers and others has historically been disconnected, leaving providers with only fragments of information about a particular patient. Our collaboration with Willamette Valley Hospice and Reliance will strengthen relationships across care communities throughout Oregon to help providers make informed decisions together about care plans that address patients’ clinical needs while honoring their dignity, values and wishes.”
Willamette Valley Hospice & Palliative Care is based in an area with multiple health systems, making it difficult for hospice and palliative care providers to track when a patient has gone to a hospital. Through this partnership, Reliance’s Health Information Exchange services, delivered via the Acclivity Health Connected Care platform, notifies Willamette Valley Hospice & Palliative Care when a patient goes to an emergency department, hospital or urgent care environment. This allows for more rapid, effective intervention by the hospice or palliative team on the patient’s behalf, helping them advise hospital providers on the patient’s condition, end-of-life wishes, and/or how to transition them into appropriate care after discharge. In some cases, the organization can be notified before the admission process is complete, allowing them to intervene and prevent unnecessary admissions.
“We are the eyes and ears of the primary care provider in a patient’s home. Therefore, being able to know when and where people have a health issue is really valuable to us. It helps us meet people where they are when they need help to best serve their needs,” said Kevin Hohnbaum, business development manager at Willamette Valley Hospice & Palliative Care. “We have already seen the benefits of our palliative care program. Through our provider relationships, we’ve seen a 55% decrease in emergency department visits for palliative care patients and an 86% decrease in inpatient hospital stays. Most importantly, this partnership gives us the opportunity to better serve our community.”
Willamette Valley Hospice & Palliative Care also worked with Acclivity Health to help them prepare and apply for the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Primary Care First Serious Illness Population program.
“Reliance is proud to be able to work alongside technology partners like Acclivity Health to ensure hospice providers like Willamette Valley Hospice have the information they need to bring quality, compassionate end-of-life care to their patients, while also allowing the organization the opportunity to reduce the total costs of care and support value-based care initiatives,” said Erick F. Maddox, Executive Director, Reliance eHealth Collaborative.
Visit acclivityhealth.com, wvh.org and reliancehie.org for more information.
