New Partnership Aims to Expand Reach of Virtual Health Services

A collaboration between Sound Long-Term Care Management (SLTCM) and PointClickCare Technologies aims to provide Medicare patients in long-term care facilities, a population that includes patients with high-acuity and complex needs, with virtual health services.

SLTCM is an accountable care organization (ACO) that bases its efforts on improving clinical outcomes for Medicare patients who reside in long-term care facilities. The organization partners with hospitals, health plans, physician groups, and post-acute providers

The ACO is partnering with PointClickCare Technologies, a healthcare technology provider, to implement the latter's Virtual Health solution. The tool and accompanying services will be subsidized for qualifying skilled nursing facilities participating in the ACO.

Through this collaboration, the two organizations aim to improve patient care.

"Improving quality and access to care for long-term residents is a pressing issue for our country. Low reimbursement, staffing scarcity, and increasing acuity have us staggering to meet their needs," said Jess Parks, CEO of SLTCM, in a press release. "Our ACO offers long-term care physicians, nurse practitioners, and facilities a new opportunity to improve quality and provide more coordinated care for this population with onsite resources, 24/7 access to physicians, and point-of-care workflow tools to improve outcomes. PointClickCare's Virtual Health is a vital component of our solution."

The tool integrates into nursing workflows and provides care teams access to patient records. Through this process, those providing care will be able to reduce the number of administrative tasks they perform, according to the press release.

More than 27,000 long‐term post‐acute care providers currently use PointClickCare's tool.

"As the leading technology partner to the long-term care industry, PointClickCare is committed to helping our partners thrive in an ever-challenging healthcare landscape," said Travis Palmquist, senior vice president and general manager of senior care at PointClickCare, in the press release. "Our integrated Virtual Health program brings expert, on-shift physician care to long-term care patients whenever they need it with one click — preventing adverse outcomes that have historically challenged this population."

SLTCM will begin its first performance year on Jan. 1, 2023. The value-based payment program will initially include 500 clinicians providing care for long-term care residents at more than 750 facilities.

The implementation of virtual health services has allowed many patients to access healthcare more easily, data gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic shows. In May, over two years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker reported a 10.2 percent increase in overall telehealth use.

Though telehealth usage has dropped since its peak during the pandemic, it has remained popular among patients and providers. As a result, healthcare stakeholders have been implementing solutions to enable virtual care.

For instance, Intermountain Healthcare added telehealth to its care options for pediatric services in September. With the goal of expanding access to care for the pediatric population, Intermountain Healthcare added a service that allows the Primary Children’s Hospital emergency department (ED) and ED physicians across the health system to engage in 24/7 video consult communication.