ConcertoCare Ensures Palliative Care Access for PACE Participants
ConcertoCare, a tech-enabled provider of home-based care, recently launched a new PACE program in Alexandria, Va. As with the company’s other service lines, Concerto is integrating palliative care into their PACE program.
The new center in Virginia, Cherry Blossom PACE offers a community-based, interdisciplinary care delivery model serving participants 55 or older who need nursing home-level care but can live safely in their homes. The 15,000-foot facility offers medical care, therapy, and personal care, among other services.
PACE participants have access to palliative care consultations and receive those services when medically appropriate.
“So palliative care is really an integral part of all the work that we do. Our patients do have access to palliative care services when that is appropriate,” ConcertoCare CEO Julian Harris told Hospice News. “We also do end-of-life planning with all of our patients and all of our products and certainly that exists in the context of the PACE program.”
In addition to medical services the PACE center provides meals, social activities, supports transportation needs and care coordination across its provider network.
PACE programs depict a comprehensive approach to care for participants who meet certain eligibility criteria, mainly to seniors who have significant medical and non-medical needs to help them age in place and avoid the hospital or nursing homes.
Most PACE participants are dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
PACE providers receive monthly Medicare and Medicaid capitated payments for each enrollee. PACE programs are also Part D providers that are responsible for their patients’ medications and pharmacy services.
Programs like PACE are needed in Virginia due to shifting demographics.
The 65+ demographic is currently at a historic high of 14.6% of the state’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That figure is expected to increase to over 20% by 2030, a change Virginia shares with many other states.
The launch of PACE comes during a time of growth at ConcertoCare. The company recently secured $105 million in a Series B funding round with Wells Fargo Strategic Capital as the lead investor.
The senior care provider intends to use the funds to fuel expansion, technology investments and to advance their home-based, interdisciplinary comprehensive care model.
In addition to PACE, ConcertoCare provides palliative care, home-based primary care, PACE and programs to address social determinants of health. The organization uses a proprietary technology platform, Patient 3D, to analyze patient data and identify social needs, formulate care plans and drive quality improvement.
“We really work with patients who have serious illnesses to ensure that we are appropriately managing their chronic conditions in an evidence-based fashion,” Harris saaid. “But they were also thoughtful about ensuring that we’re using best practices related to ensuring that the patients also are supported in terms of their well being.”