CASE STUDY
IMPROVING THE POST-ACUTE CARE REFERRAL PROCESS
CUSTOMER:
Annual Key Metrics
Since MultiCare* started using AIDA, they have seen significant improvements in their care coordination process:
73.87%
In efficiency gained (aka admin labor reallocation)
11.6%
Drop in ALOS over 12 months
32%
Faster avg. acceptance time by the Narrow Network providers vs out-of-network providers
40.9%
Of Accepted Referrals are accepted within 1 hour from when the referral was sent
22.8%
Complex cases were discharged within 3 days of case creation
“I work with our post-acute partners, and AIDA has helped our team improve efficiencies throughout the transitions of care. The data really shows the impact of using their platform.”
LYNN SIEDENSTRANG, MS
VP Care Continuum MultiCare Health System
“Using AIDA allows case managers to do other things with their time that directly impacts reducing LOS. AIDA removes the heavy admin, burden associated with care management which frees up time to focus on patient care“.
DEENA HANNEN, MSN, RN, ACM
VP Case Management MultiCare Health System
Overview
- Overview
For over a century. MultiCare Health System (MHS) has been serving patients in the greater Puget Sound region.
Started in 1882 as Tacoma General Hospital, it evolved into one of the state’s largest health systems comprised of 12 hospitals spanning across the state from Spokane to Seattle. It is the state’s largest not-for-profit, community-based, locally owned health system. Its network includes the region’s only children’s hospital and state-designated Level lI Pediatric Trauma Center and Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
With a staff of over 20,000, MultiCare has won many accolades over the years including designation as one of the Top 50 Cardiovascular Centers in the country (to MultiCare Pulse Heart Institute at Tacoma General Hospital, the ‘Digital Health Most Wired” Health Award from the American Hospital Associations Health Forum and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME, and selection as one of the top children’s hospitals in the nation (to Mary Bridges Children’s Hospital.
Challenges
- Challenges
MultiCare Health System uses EPIC Systems EMR and was using a different care management application, prior to AIDA’s engagement with them.
Previously MHS was using it only for Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) and Home Health type referrals and found their platform insufficient for managing complex care’ cases specifically in regards to finding the right care with Medicaid-contractedor state-licensed providers (aka Adult Family Homes (AFHs), Personal Care Homes, and Group Homes). With their previous care management platform, providers also had to pay to get access to it which limits the types and number of providers using their platform.
MHS needed a solution that would allow them to manage the full spectrum of care needs for their diverse patient population that would also support them in delivering. equitable value-based care.
Solutions
- Solutions
Multicare was one of AIDA’s first customers beginning in 2019. Starting with MultiCare Deaconess Hospital and MultiCare Valley Hospital, AIDA quickly expanded to all the other MHS facilities allowing hospitals and post-acute care providers to improve care coordination throughout the care continuum. They’ve been able to enhance their value-based care with AIDA’s Narrow Network configurations and can capture leakages and performance metrics for their in and out-of-network providers.
While their previous platform was free only for providers who receive referrals by fax AIDA’s platform is free for all post-acute care providers and includes its proprietary electronic intake dashboard. This has attracted a larger and more comprehensive provider network onto its platform. Additionally as the need for Medicaid-contracted or state-licensed providers increases across the nation, AIDA continues to expand its network and is able to meet and exceed the needs of MHS* Case Managers by offering access to a broader network of providers.
Once AIDA started working with MHS, they expanded to SNF5, LTACHs, In-Patient Rehab and other post acute services at MHS request. Using AIDA’s EPIC integration, Discharge Dashboard, Patient Choice, ACO, Analytics, Forms Management, and separate post-acute provider modules, MH5 fulfills referrals faster, finds high-quality matches that better align with patient needs, and their staff can spend more time with their patients instead of doing time-consuming administrative tasks.
Results and Impact
- Results and Impact
To date, MHS has seen adoption of AIDA throughout their facilities and with that, faster turnaround times from admissions to discharge. With no downtime or platform outages, the MHS team can rely on AIDA’s technology to make their jobs easier.
Using the Narrow Network feature in AIDA, they’ve seen on average 32% faster average acceptance time by its Narrow Network providers. With the expansion of AIDA across all of their hospitals, MHS care coordination workflow has seen a 73.87% efficiency gain in administrative labor over 12 months. This means they can continue to focus their attention on patient care and patient outcomes.
* Across 8 MultiCare Hospitals with Narrow Network Providers (ACO)
** LOS reduction can be caused by a multitude of factors including staff efforts, policy changes, COVID-19 changes, AIDA usage, seasonality, etc.
*** Complex Case is defined as a patient who has 1 or more complex care needs (i.e., Coved-19, bariatric care, Medicaid-on-arrival, vent/trach management, feeding tube, colostomy care, obesity, wound care (under/over 30 days), smokers, behavior support needs/health, etc).