Executive Summary
Butte Home Health and Hospice, a 40-year-old non-profit home health and hospice agency, faced considerable challenges in improving their quality ratings and operational efficiency. By partnering with Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP) in 2018, they implemented real-time data tools, embraced quality-driven practices, and enhanced staff education. The results? Butte achieved the prestigious dual 5-Star ratings in Quality of Patient Care (QoPC) and HHCAHPS (Home Health Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems), becoming one of only 95 agencies nationwide to hold this distinction.
Introduction
Butte Home Health and Hospice, a community-driven non-profit organization located in California, has been offering home health and hospice services for over four decades. Founded in 1984 and adding hospice care in 1987, the agency has long been committed to improving the lives of patients and their families.
Despite their dedication, Butte struggled to translate the quality of their care into measurable performance indicators. Under the leadership of Administrator Robert Love, the agency began its transformative partnership with SHP in 2018 to prioritize data-driven decision-making, quality, and sustainable growth.
The Problem
When Robert Love joined Butte in 2018, the agency faced significant systemic challenges:
Key hurdles included:
- Low-quality ratings: Butte held a 2.5-star rating for quality in 2019, placing them well below the industry benchmark.
- Operational inefficiencies: Many processes were managed on paper, making it difficult to measure, analyze, and improve performance.
- Lack of benchmarks and data insights: The agency lacked the tools necessary to understand their standing on key metrics compared to peers and address performance gaps.
- Patient and staff satisfaction issues: Ensuring satisfaction while maintaining care quality was a consistent challenge.
Further adding to the difficulty, a devastating wildfire in 2018 severely impacted the community, eliminating 20% of Butte’s referral base. This posed a monumental roadblock to Butte’s recovery and progress.
The Solution
To overcome these challenges, Butte Home Health and Hospice partnered with Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP) to modernize their operations and prioritize quality. Together, they implemented a multi-faceted approach grounded in data analytics, staff education, and operational efficiency.
SHP Tools and Capabilities
SHP provided several innovative tools and practices that helped Butte achieve their goals:
1. Real-Time Data Monitoring
Butte used SHP’s Clinical Scorecard to monitor performance and quality measures in real time. The Star Ratings Preview Report enabled them to address risks and performance gaps proactively ahead of reportable periods.
2. Quarterly Scorecards for Clinicians
SHP helped tailor and implement individualized clinical scorecards for RN case managers, enabling transparency and accountability. Staff were educated on the importance of risk adjustment and accurate data capture, ensuring that scores reflected care quality.
3. Patient Care Plan Integration
Butte integrated SHP's Patient Care Plan tool into patient charts, enabling the team to review utilization patterns and ensure functional scoring accuracy.
4. Predictive Analytics for Better Care Transition
SHP’s predictive tools helped identify home health patients likely eligible for hospice care, ensuring timely and appropriate care transitions.
Staff Engagement and Quality Culture
Building a quality-driven culture was at the heart of Butte’s strategy:
- Transparency and visibility were prioritized, with quality scores publicly displayed in the office to motivate and align teams.
- Staff earned performance-based bonuses tied to QoPC and HHCAHPS metrics, fostering engagement and accountability.
- Educational workshops clarified the significance of quality measures, such as hospitalizations and patient satisfaction, empowering staff to think critically about their impact.
Happy clinicians lead to happy patients, more referrals, and better outcomes. This mindset keeps the cycle of quality improvement going.
- Robert Love, Administrator
Results
Through its partnership with SHP, Butte Home Health and Hospice achieved remarkable outcomes:
- Dual 5-Star Ratings: Butte advanced from a 2.5-star rating in 2019 to 5-Star ratings in both Quality of Patient Care and HHCAHPS, joining an elite group of just 95 agencies nationwide (and only 7 in California) to achieve this distinction out of over 12,000 agencies.
- Improved Operational Efficiency: SHP’s tools helped modernize Butte’s operations by streamlining data flow and compliance processes, transitioning the agency from paper-based to data-driven practices.
- Employee and Patient Satisfaction: The agency’s performance incentives and supportive atmosphere were instrumental in fostering happier clinicians and higher patient satisfaction, as reflected in improved HHCAHPS scores.
- Exceptional ROI: SHP not only met but exceeded expectations regarding return on investment.
- Sustained Growth: Despite the challenges of a natural disaster and operational hurdles, Butte grew significantly — Home health census increased from fewer than 100 patients to over 400, Hospice census grew from the 20s to surpassing 100 patients.
SHP is the best value in our technology stack. It’s enabled us to earn bonuses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars through value-based payments, and its cost is only a fraction of that.
- Robert Love, Administrator
Conclusion
The partnership between Butte Home Health and Hospice and SHP showcases the incredible potential of leveraging advanced analytics and a quality-focused culture in healthcare. Together, they turned a struggling agency into a national leader.
Looking forward, Butte plans to deepen its use of SHP’s predictive tools to support hospice transitions and enhance patient care further. With SHP’s innovative solutions and Butte’s relentless focus on quality, the future for this partnership looks brighter than ever.
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