Three Ways to Strengthen Your Preferred Network Relationship Under PDPM

As skilled nursing facilities continue to adjust to the new normal under PDPM, it’s critical to determine whether or not you are referral worthy under the new payment model. SNFs are facing a new reality of narrowing networks, which means that having data that speaks to your capabilities and a plan to protect your referral sources is critical.

Here are three things your organization can start doing to stay ahead of the game and strengthen your preferred network relationship.  

1. Demonstrate Quality Outcomes

With hospitals sending higher acuity patients and PDPM driving patient-centered care, nursing teams need to be able to care for clinically complex patients. As a result, nurses face more pressure than ever to provide the right care to the right resident in order to have quality outcomes. With the shift in Medicare payments to only one payment assessment, SNFs need better information sooner, in order to optimize payments through comprehensive data collection and analysis.

To stand out from the crowd and make yourself a more attractive discharge option, you need to be as transparent as possible. By leveraging technology to collect and manage resident data, skilled nursing providers can demonstrate their ability to deliver positive care results and prove that they are a safe bet for hospitals.

2. Improve the Coordination in the Care Continuum 

Patients with multiple disease processes are constantly moving across the care continuum with many touch points of care. In order to be successful at providing the right care for the right patient, you must have visibility into all accessible patient records.

Having a more direct connection will make patient transfers smoother, because you will have access to important information before the patient arrives at your facility, such as the medication they have been prescribed or their therapy treatments. With access to the right insights you will be able to better prepare for their arrival and ensure the highest quality of care at all times, which can help attract more referrals.

3. Expand Service Offerings

As hospitals become more selective with their partnerships, SNFs need a way to stand out amongst their peers. Understanding your referral partners patient dynamics, hospital core strengths, and discharge needs will allow your facility to show its worth and expand its service offerings.

Contact the hospitals in your network to determine their needs and learn more about the specific health requirements of their patients. For example, if they have a lot of patients with heart conditions, you may have to come up with a plan that specializes in that type of care. Aligning your capabilities to your hospital’s needs may also require staffing changes, but it will help you become a top facility for your community.

Learn More About Becoming a Preferred Provider

To ensure your facility is able to deliver the insights — and peace of mind — that hospitals are expecting when looking to discharge patients, we recommend investing in a person-centered analytics solution. Learn more about PointClickCare’s Harmony Insights here.