Trinity Health Of New England is teaming up with CVS Health to continue to improve quality of care for patients in New England while lowering overall costs. Together, the two aim to help reduce unnecessary hospital visits or readmissions and improve transitions in care, further enhancing the existing top-quality care provided by all five hospitals within the Trinity Health Of New England.
“What makes this initiative really special are the enhancements to patient care that come with this kind of collaboration,” says Dr. Reginald Eadie, president and CEO of Trinity Health Of New England.
“Specifically, we’re helping patients better adhere to their medications, helping patients with home infusion care, and creating a smoother transition for patients leaving our hospitals who need continued care at home.”
The collaboration includes a focus on medication adherence, disease management and convenient health care services as well as enabling smooth transitions in care.
“Together, we are working to tackle major public health challenges in New England to help improve access to important health care services and enable continuity across the health care continuum for the patients that we collectively serve,” said Robert Brooks, senior vice president of Health System Alliances, CVS Health. “Through this first-of-its-kind initiative, we are bringing our expertise and care to local communities, providing vital services in patients’ homes, and putting a wealth of resources at their fingertips.”
Reducing Hospital Readmissions
When patients find themselves back at the hospital time and time again, it can become cumbersome, emotional, and often times a financial strain. In many cases, readmissions can be avoided by something as simple as a patient taking their medications as prescribed. Trinity Health Of New England strives to further reduce and ultimately prevent hospital readmissions for patients and is utilizing the integrated CVS Health medication adherence program as a means to become one step closer to achieving that goal.
“With this collaboration in place, when one of our patients is prescribed a medication and it is sent to a CVS Pharmacy, our electronic medical records (EMR) system will alert the patient’s physician if that medication is not picked up,” explains Claudio Capone, Regional Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development for Trinity Health Of New England. “This type of alert provides physicians with a critical piece of information, allowing them to intervene with a patient who could, for example, have heart disease or diabetes, who is at risk for returning to the hospital for that same issue if they are not taking their medication as prescribed.”
The collaboration will also help to find the most affordable medication based on the patient’s diagnosis and individual insurance plan.
Capone says this collaboration “helps us not only manage the cost of care, but it also helps us ensure the patient is getting the right medication at the right time.”
Improving Transitions of Care
For many patients, prescription medication goes well beyond a daily pill. For some, treatment may require home infusion services. Trinity Health Of New England will work with CVS Health to address the needs of this particular patient population through a partnership with Coram CVS Specialty Infusion Services (Coram). For patients who select Coram, it helps seamlessly continue important infusion care at a patient’s home..
“Coram will help streamline home care for our patients throughout communities served by Trinity Health Of New England,” says Capone. “Prior to the time of discharge, for those who have selected Coram as their home infusion provider and while they are still in the hospital, the Coram liaisons help to schedule patient infusion services and can provide education, so when patients get home, there are fewer worries.”
The program also provides a Coram transition coach to follow the patient for 30 days after discharge from the hospital. Patient’s using the program will also receive education on how to utilize the program most effectively while they are still in the hospital, as a means to help alleviate any concern or anxiety before they arrive home. The program has a proven track record of reducing hospital readmission rates. Patients receiving this type of care from Coram have readmission rates as low as 7.92%, about half of the national average of 15.3%.
In addition, the collaboration between Trinity Health Of New England and CVS Health helps patients transition from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) supported by CVS Health’s Omnicare. For example, when a patient transitions to a SNF, Omnicare is able to send the patient’s discharge medication information, which Omnicare receives from one of the Trinity Health Of New England hospitals, directly to the SNF through an established electronic interface, auto-populating the information into the facility’s records.
Expanding Hospital Reach
A patient feeling sick in the evening may not feel ill enough to go to the hospital, but still wants to be seen by a health care provider. That’s where the MinuteClinic steps in. MinuteClinic locations are open seven days a week. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants diagnose and treat minor illnesses, injuries, and skin conditions. They also provide wellness services including vaccinations, physicals, screenings, and monitoring for chronic conditions.
“Unnecessary hospital visits can be costly to both the patient and health care system, especially if it is for something that can be treated in an outpatient or clinic setting,” said CVS Health’s Brooks. “Unfortunately, patients may not know where to turn for care on the weekends or in the evenings when their primary care provider is closed. Through this collaboration, we are helping to provide Trinity Health Of New England patients with another care option for acute or minor illnesses or health care needs to help keep them healthy and out of the hospital.”
“Through the collaboration, if a patient who uses one of Trinity Health Of New England Hospitals chooses to visit a MinuteClinic, providers will also be able to access the patients’ EMRs to see what medications a patient is taking, pre-existing health conditions as well as medical history, which can help enhance health care decision making and ensure that, for example, the medication the MinuteClinic practitioner prescribes will not interact with an existing medication or exacerbate an underlying health condition,” says Capone.
Community Outreach
Trinity Health Of New England’s mission is to be a compassionate and transforming healing presence within its communities, and this collaboration helps to expand that mission by educating teens, their parents, and clinicians about the risks of opioid misuse through CVS Health’s Pharmacists Teach program. CVS Health will offer this program throughout Trinity Health Of New England.
“We’re really excited about this, because we are taking a different approach than most other organizations have,” says Dr. Eadie. “In addition to the usual drug take-back program, in which we are removing unused or unneeded prescription opioid medication out of homes, we are now going one step further to increase education and awareness about the real risks of opioid medication misuse as well as the importance of proper use of opioids as pain medication and management.”
Together, CVS Health and Trinity Health Of New England are working in communities throughout New England to help improve access to quality care and coordinate that care across the continuum in an effort to improve health outcomes and lower costs. The collaboration will continue to evolve and is likely to include future community outreach and education initiatives involving flu prevention and overall healthy living. In all, it is a unique and innovative partnership ultimately providing the patient the upmost value in healthcare.
