Three Keys to PDPM Greatness

PDPM took effect over three months ago, and skilled nursing providers are adjusting to the new normal. PDPM didn’t end on October 1 – the new regulations are the first stop on a new path to value-based care. The new normal demands a higher standard of performance. It is person-centred care, clinical excellence, insights driven, and value based. As you continue to adapt to these changes, there a few things to keep in mind in order to succeed under PDPM.

Key #1: Consistent Care Delivery

As the requirements for providers become more stringent, it’s even more important to provide consistency in care delivery. Care pathways helps to provide standardized care and reproducible outcomes, as well as the information needed to tailor a care plan to each individual resident. It also delivers standardized care with assessments that contain data that can be used for a multitude of reporting and review purposes.

In order to provide consistent care, you should also have tasks automatically triggered for nursing staff. It’s critical that your care staff receive the information from care pathways so they can better complete the task or intervention needed. This also helps to eliminate a gap in the process.

Key #2: Actionable Intelligence

In the current age of technology, LTPAC providers have access to new data every day, and plenty of it. But collecting data for the sake of it isn’t helpful to anyone. It’s important that you collect the right data, that can be used to improve financial and care outcomes. Using actionable intelligence, you can identify areas of your facility that require improvement and monitor the effectiveness of your plan to improve any issues that have been found.

By optimizing the data that you collect, you will be able to:

• Identify the sickest and highest risk residents
• Track care progress and identify trends
• Report on quality-of-care performance indicators

Under PDPM, providers need to make sure that the care and services they provide are not only reflected in the clinical chart, but also in the Minimum Data Set. By doing so, you will be able to ensure that you are properly reimbursed for the care you are providing. Actionable insights help to provide the best care possible, but they also assist in transferring the information to the MDS.

Key #3: Proving Your Value

With rapidly narrowing networks, it’s crucial that you prove your strengths and provide current data to secure your position as a preferred network provider. Hospitals and network partners will look to the CMS website for performance reporting and readmissions, before deciding who will be in their preferred provider network. However, the information they receive from the website is old data, and only shows what your facility was doing months ago. It’s critical that you communicate your strengths based on current data and accomplishments.

SNFs who maintain preferred provider status do so by tracking performance metrics from the perspective of acute partners, who are looking at readmission rate, quality, and nursing care.

Quality is the new currency for the long-term care industry, and it’s an operational mainstay. To learn more about how to succeed under PDPM, check out our webinar The 3 Keys to PDPM Greatness.