Florida-based Avante Group Inc. specializes in skilled nursing, assisted living, rehabilitation, and post-acute care services – united under the mantra “Serve. Care. Heal.” The organization’s sole mission is to improve the quality of life and care for seniors, achieved through a balance of personalized care and cutting-edge technologies and treatments.
Facing hospital readmission challenges to residents and revenue
Like any skilled nursing facility, Avante’s referral partnerships with hospitals, accountable care organizations, and payer networks depend significantly on low patient readmission rates. In addition to correlating with resident satisfaction, these rates ultimately impact the organization’s bottom line – with poor performance resulting in payment reductions and penalties as well as fewer referrals over time.
Avante leadership struggled with disparate data sources that ultimately clouded the big picture view of the company’s readmission performance and trends across locations – relying on clinicians to manually pull and manage resident reports. Combined with limited tools to proactively identify patients at risk for rehospitalization and intervene prior to the patient’s condition becoming acute, Avante turned to SAIVA for help aggregating its high volume of patient data.
Solving through real-time machine learning
Working closely with the SAIVA team, Avante was able to leverage the machine learning platform to unify and analyze myriad patient data points plus automate customized reports. This streamlined insight has allowed the organization to better implement and manage resident plans of care, and ultimately, proactively identify residents at risk for rehospitalization and acute changes of condition.
“When you break down what SAIVA does, it really empowers us to realize our mission of ‘Serve. Care. Heal,’” says Tricia Robinson, Avante CEO & President. “It puts daily, real-time data at our clinician’s fingertips to facilitate early detection, quick treatment for residents, and healing in place within the skilled nursing facility setting.”
Additionally, robust reports enable Avante leadership to identify trends both enterprise-wide and by facility. Pinpointing spikes or reductions in return-to-hospital incidents have proved useful both for success measuring, identifying training opportunities, and long-term strategic planning.
Realizing win-win patient and facility results
With SAIVA in place, Avante has been able to measurably improve patient care while streamlining day-to-day operations for staff. Within the first two months of full implementation across the enterprise, Avante saw a decrease in short-stay rehospitalizations of 52% – representing $184,000 in retained revenue.
“With a more comprehensive understanding of the treatment plans in place, we are keeping residents in one setting, so care is more consistent and constructive – allowing for better-quality outcomes and, ideally, contributing to a successful discharge home for more of our patients,” says Kim Biegasiewicz, Avante VP of Clinical Services. “What’s more, our program has been a great marketing tool when talking to physicians, hospitals, and case managers,” Robinson says. “They’re excited to see we’re innovative in how we’re providing care. Even through the impact
of the COVID-19 crisis, we’ve seen a more consistent census.”