Changes in healthcare are taking place all throughout the country, including the home. According to Healthcare Finance News, The Alliance for Quality Home Care (AQHC) recently outlined its new policy on post-acute healthcare reform. Post-acute healthcare refers to home care that people receive when they are not sick enough to be in the hospital, but need medical attention and help with daily activities. The AQHC outlined three main objectives of their plan:

Patient Needs First: The needs of patients must be the driver of reform. The reform is intended to integrate systems and put all people involved in home care on the same page with aligned incentives, rather than mixed incentives, in order to match each patient individually with their needs.

Payment Tied to Quality: Performance metrics must be developed that better apply across all care sectors, and also keep the “big picture” of total care in mind to see how each caregiver is performing in context. High performers get compensated for their work, which will encourage only the best care.

Adequate Payment: While not easy to accomplish in times of budget cuts, with the proper structure in place adequate compensation can be given. This requires looking at situations that providers face and making cuts accordingly, not across the board.

For the full article, see Nursing Home Alliance Offers Post-Acute System Reform