Several home care and hospital association representatives in New York state have joined forces to further enhance collaboration across their respective settings through a Statewide Hospital-Home Care Collaborative.
Home Care Association of New York State Education & Research, Healthcare Association of New York State, and Iroquois Healthcare Association developed the Collaborative in 2020 with support from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation; the latter is funding phase II of the initiative, extending the project through 2022.
HCA E&R, HANYS and IHA have curated a series of upcoming webinars featuring prototypes of existing hospital and home care collaboration models developed by providers across the state. The goal is to provide a blueprint that can be adapted to develop similar collaborative models across New York.
The Collaborative will include monthly webinars from September 2021 through March 2022 and a virtual Statewide Summit on Dec. 2, 2021 that will help chart out future directions for post-sector collaboration.
To assist hospital-home care collaborative development and provide technical assistance, the effort also includes a library of online resources and tools, which will continue to build over the project, as well as further education on identified collaboration needs and issues.
The group said that cross-sector collaboration is especially important during emergencies, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, which place enormous stresses on hospital capacity. According to one HCA report in October, 65% of home care agencies in New York state saw an increase in referrals to home care from hospitals and other settings since the onset of the public health emergency.
“This initiative highlights the value and power of home care and hospitals working together as core partners for health care quality, cost-effectiveness and health system transformation,” said HCA President Al Cardillo. “Hospitals and home care providers have critical and collaborative roles in our health care system, and these parts are mutually strengthened when care is coordinated for the benefit of patients.”
“Through this Collaborative, hospitals and home care providers are strengthening partnerships and in some cases creating new models that improve coordination across the continuum of care,” said HANYS President Bea Grause.
