As Medicaid use expands during the COVID-19 pandemic, easing transitions of care is a top priority
It’s no secret that patients using Medicaid face greater difficulty navigating their healthcare options than those with private insurance. As tens of millions of Americans have become eligible for Medicaid in recent years, and more is learned about the harsher impact of the coronavirus on low-income individuals and communities, now is a critical time for providers to implement solutions for improving patient access.
How could optimizing transitions of care for Medicaid patients help the healthcare system keep up with the surging pandemic?
Medicaid enrollment soars during the pandemic
Medicaid enrollment has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic as millions of Americans experienced income and job loss and became eligible for the program. Data from Kaiser Family Foundation shows that the lowest-income individuals are more likely to suffer from serious illness that may require hospital care as a result of COVID-19 exposure. This, paired with some of the highest hospitalizations to date means it’s likely that more Medicaid patients are going to hospitals now than ever before.
What does this mean for healthcare systems?
As hospitals all across the country become deluged with COVID-19 patients, it is essential that care managers have the tools they need to safely reduce patients’ lengths of stay and rates of readmission, in order to make beds available for other patients in need of lifesaving care and treatment. It’s also important that they keep in mind many of these patients are using Medicaid as their primary insurance. With many post-hospital care providers declining Medicaid patients, transition of care can be a long and grueling process for low-income individuals and their families, holding up patient flow and contributing to dangerous overcrowding of hospitals.
How Repisodic addresses hospital discharge challenges
Repisodic Choice is an easy to implement EHR add-on that helps health systems take control of their discharge process. The platform automatically identifies the top post-hospital care providers that match each patient’s unique needs. It leverages proprietary data to identify which providers accept a patient’s insurance plan, provide the clinical services a patient needs and have beds available to accept new patients. Case managers at health systems across the country utilize Repisodic to streamline the discharge process and efficiently guide patients to high quality options. The ability to easily identify the most accurate, high quality options for a patient’s post-hospital care is a strong force against hospital overcrowding.
To learn more about how Repisodic can help your organization optimize its discharge system click here.
