2023 Post-Acute Trends: Five Strategies To Improve Hospital Outcomes

STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE HOSPITAL OUTCOMES

Learn the top trends in rehabilitation for 2023 and hear from Rehabilitation and Behavioral Health President on how these trends are expected to impact hospitals.

COMBATING THE ONGOING WORKFORCE CRISIS

Recruiting and retaining clinical talent remains a top priority, according to a recent healthcare executive survey. Three key factors fueling this ongoing shortage include:

– Elevated staffing costs

Due to various COVID-19 surges, labor costs have grown 25% since 2019.1 It has become increasingly difficult for hospitals to keep up with service demands with a drastically declining workforce. Support from a focused partner with local and national reach helps hospitals to identify and retain specialized talent.

Worsening Experience-Complexity Gap

Another shortage in the clinical workforce is experience.2 Not only are we seeing a large gap in experienced labor, but the patient population is also becoming older and more complex. This has pushed hospitals to seek support from industry experts to help alleviate this labor-patient imbalance.

Capacity Constraints

A lack of clinical labor, treatment supplies, and bed space has heightened the healthcare labor crisis. These compounding factors cannot be taken on by a single hospital. The partnership allows hospitals to focus on quality care while the partner provides specialized resources and expertise to overcome challenges such as capacity constraints.

Scaling Chronic Disease Management

Research notes that more than 655,000 people in the U.S. die from heart disease each year, while nearly 800,000 experience a stroke annually. Seeing cases like heart disease and stroke drastically rise each year is just one of the many reasons hospitals are including elevated chronic disease management into their overall strategy.

When rehabilitation centers partner with hospitals, we bring in specialized technology, training, and expertise to help equip staff with resources to succeed with their patients, no matter their condition.

Leveraging flexible care models

Now more than ever, hospitals are reviewing the scope and scale of their care continuum – leading to service line expansions, and an increase in ambulatory sites, digital health, and post-acute care.

Co-location continues to see substantial growth as patients with both physical and mental illnesses want to receive high-quality care in the same setting. This model also referred to as the Hospital-in-Hospital (HiH) model, helps streamline a hospital’s care approach while improving outcomes and flexibility.

When you pair post-acute services under the same roof, you enable patients to reap the benefits of multiple specialty offerings without having to transfer them outside of the system.

Focus on financial stability

Eighty-three percent of healthcare executives note financial stability is one of their top priorities for 2023 strategic planning.

Successfully managing all aspects of a rehabilitation unit or hospital has become more financially challenging due to growing patient complexities, readmission risks, and the integration of value-based care. If a hospital can achieve an effective post-acute strategy they can better manage the intricacies of the program and increase care quality in a cost-conscious way.

Growth of strategic partnerships

Throughout the pandemic, health leaders turned to innovative solutions to meet the growing demand in their community. Contract management and joint-venture partnerships emerged as a proven strategy to expand care in a high-quality and cost-effective manner.

The partnership offers access to new capabilities, increased speed to market, and greater efficiencies in capital, scale, and operations. Rehabilitation center helps local hospitals access a national database of quality data, greater operational efficiency, and industry-leading best practices. Through this, we are able to relieve the burden of running a complex service line, enabling hospital leadership to focus on what really matters – the patient.

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