Daryl Tol, president and CEO of Florida Hospital, wants to create health care’s new normal.
“We need to create something that’s seamless, connected and easy to use,” said Tol on Tuesday as he awarded $1.5 million to five community projects that focus on care navigation and coordination.
The hospital is investing more resources toward in following patients after they leave the brick-and-mortar part of the hospital business, Tol said.
“In 2018, we’re going to start a robust care navigation program,” he said, such that when patients are discharged, they’re guided to the next level of care in their home and community.
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It’s not a novel idea, nor is it mainstream, but it does require a change in mindset.
“If we think of ourselves as a hospital company, then our job is taking care of patients at the hospital. But we have to think of ourselves as a health company. We want to stay connected [with patients], even when they’re well,” he said.
The health system has invested $20 million toward out-of-hospital patient care, including care management and technologies that would streamline patients’ needs from prices to billing to follow-up care.
Earlier this year, it launched the Someday Starts Today advertising campaign, which shifts the focus to “you,” the consumer, instead of the hospital buildings.
One of the grant recipients is a community paramedicine program run by the Seminole County Health Department and the Health Council of East Central Florida. The program arranges for paramedics to follow up with patients for 30 days after they’re discharged from the hospital.
With the $190,000 grant, the project is planning to hire a second paramedic who will specifically work with patients who are discharged from Florida Hospital Altamonte, said Ken Peach, executive director of Health Council of East Central Florida. The current paramedic is currently helping launch the program in Seminole County.
Other award recipients this year include the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, a project of Center for Change ($200,000); Health Access & Physician Partnership Initiative, a project of Osceola Council on Aging ($500,000); Mt. Sinai Seventh-day Adventist Church Community Outreach ($590,898) and Community Health Centers ($106,940).
Last year, the hospital gave $1.2 million in community grants to six organizations, including $300,000 to Osceola County Health Department for a new mobile dental unit and $142,000 to Care Coordination of Florida Hospital, which pairs nurses and advocates with patients who have complex medical needs.
The community grants awarded by Florida Hospital are part of an Obamacare provision that requires nonprofit hospitals to assess the health needs of their communities and come up with strategies to address them in order to justify and maintain their tax-exempt status.
Date: Oct 24, 2017