This initiative is possible through the collaboration of the CMS Innovation Center and the CMS Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office.
This effort aims to improve the quality of care for people residing in long-term care (LTC) facilities by reducing avoidable hospitalizations.
CMS supports organizations that each partner with a group of LTC facilities to implement evidence-based clinical and educational interventions that both improve care and lower costs. The initiative is focused on long-stay LTC facility residents who are enrolled in both the Medicare and Medicaid programs, with the goal of reducing potentially avoidable inpatient hospitalizations. This initiative was launched in 2012.
A second phase of this Initiative was announced on August 27, 2015, and new cooperative agreements were announced on March 24, 2016.
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From a pool of applicants, 7 organizations were selected for phase one of this Initiative:
Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation – Alabama expand Read more aboutCHI/Alegent Creighton Health – Nebraska expand Read more about
HealthInsight of Nevada – Nevada expand Read more about
Indiana University – Indiana expand Read more about
The Curators of the University of Missouri – Missouri expand Read more about
The Greater New York Hospital Foundation, Inc. – New York City expand Read more about
UPMC Community Provider Services - Pennsylvania expand Read more about
Background
LTC facility residents often experience potentially avoidable inpatient hospitalizations. These hospitalizations are expensive, disruptive, and disorienting for seniors and people with disabilities. LTC facility residents are especially vulnerable to the risks that accompany hospital stays and transitions between LTC facilities and hospitals, including medication errors and hospital-acquired infections.
Many LTC facility residents are enrolled in both the Medicare and Medicaid programs (Medicare-Medicaid enrollees). CMS research on Medicare-Medicaid enrollees in LTC facilities found that approximately 45% of hospital admissions among individuals receiving either Medicare skilled nursing facility services or Medicaid nursing facility services could have been avoided, accounting for 314,000 potentially avoidable hospitalizations and $2.6 billion in Medicare expenditures in 2005.
Initiative Details
Since September 2012, under the initial phase of the Initiative, CMS has partnered with seven Enhanced Care and Coordination Provider (ECCP) organizations to improve care for long-stay LTC facility residents. In aggregate, the ECCPs collaborate with 143 LTC facilities across seven states to provide on-site staff for training and to provide preventive services and improve the assessment and management of medical conditions to reduce avoidable hospitalizations.
The ECCPs collaborate with States and LTC facilities, with each ECCP implementing its evidence-based interventions in at least 14 partnering LTC facilities over a four-year period (2012-2016). The interventions in the first phase of the Initiative reach about 16,000 beneficiaries each month.
Interventions are evaluated for their effectiveness in improving health outcomes and providing residents with a better care experience.
Applications for this Initiative were due June 14, 2012.
Additional Information
- Final Year Three Evaluation Report (PDF)
- Fact Sheet (PDF)
- Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)
- Evaluation Report through December 2014 (PDF)
- Funding Opportunity Announcement (PDF) (modified 04/26/12)
- Webinar: Evidence-based Interventions
- Webinar: Overview
If you have additional questions on this Initiative, please e-mail NFI@cms.hhs.gov. For more information on this initiative, including archived information, visit the Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office page.