It may be surprising to learn that hospitals begin their discharge process NOT at the time of discharge but rather at the time a patient is admitted to the hospital, often while the patient is still in the Emergency Room. As part of a plan of care, physicians and other caregivers must try to anticipate or estimate the length of stay so that appropriate discharge plans can be arranged.
For assisted living, if you expect to continue getting referrals from your local hospitals, then you need to “constantly be in the mind” of physicians and hospital social workers and discharge planners starting from the time a patient enters their Emergency Room. These hospital personnel need an immediate link or access to your Facility Health Profile which will show them whether you have the experience and expertise and are the best candidate to manage the care of their patient at the time of anticipated discharge.
For example, let’s say the following is your FACILITY HEALTH PROFILE. This shows your residents’ most common Chronic Health Conditions and types of Prescribed Medicines.
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If hospital discharge planners see this profile, then they immediately see all the most common chronic health conditions and prescribed medicines that you manage in your facility. If these areas overlap with their patient, then they may be more likely to trust YOU to continue their patient’s health management following discharge rather than other assisted living facilities for whom they have no information.
Now let’s say this is your HEALTH BURDEN PROFILE which is a measure of your residents’ health risk. Low risk residents are in green on the left side of the graph while high risk residents are in red on the right side of the graph.
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From this graph the hospital can see that your facility is skilled in caring for high risk residents (in red). From the hospital’s standpoint, this PROFILE may be helpful in determining the timing of discharge and whether to keep the patient an extra 1-2 days for further recovery or to transition directly to your facility.
Getting your HEALTH PROFILES and not only making them available but easily accessible to your local hospitals and skilled nursing facilities will keep you ahead of the curve and demonstrate your leadership in your future health referral networks. It also provides unique and unparalleled marketing opportunities, as multiple discharge planners in your referral networks will have the opportunity to easily view your HEALTH PROFILES daily and show them to interested colleagues as well as potential residents and their families.
The advantages of being FIRST and paving the way for others cannot be overstated.
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