NHPCO NewsLine Fall 2021 - 13

structure, their mission, the make-up of their provider network, any value-based contracts that they are a
part of, their level of patient or beneficiary engagement, and their utilization metrics. Much of this is
available on-line as well as through annual reports and conversations. Specific to you and your organization,
you will need to have a firm grasp on their history with you. This should include their referral history, the
outcome of those referrals, any impact your service had on their metrics such as lowering costs or acute
utilization, any variation between the referral patterns of their providers, past collaborative efforts, and
common, personal connections that may exist.
Just as important as this empirical data, you must also attend to the more qualitative perceptions, or - more
commonly - misperceptions, that may exist. Such prejudices can be true impediments to moving forward in a
partnership and are best addressed directly. Having some insight into those misperceptions allows you to
provide evidence to the contrary or explain why that barrier can be addressed head-on. Here is a list of
potential roadblocks to partnerships:
▌ You are perceived to be too " niche " of a service.
▌ You do not impact enough of their coverage area/
patient population.
▌ Palliative medicine is not respected as a medical
specialty.
▌ You do not offer the type of service they are
looking for.
▌ You are not seen as a peer in the healthcare
continuum.
▌ You are not a " player " in the value-based
contracting world.
Build your partnerships: Once you have a handle on your agency's overall change strategy, as well as the
internal and external data that you need, you can start building your partnerships.
Identify where your best opportunities lie. List the
possible sources of contracts for you to pursue. This could
include ACOs you want to approach for a contract or to
become a preferred provider. It could be a Direct
Contracting Entity (DCE) that you want to enter into a
Participant Provider contract with. It could be a local
health care system with whom you want to contract with
to provide inpatient palliative care. It could be another
hospice or group of hospices that you would like to build a
collaborative with. It could be another community
provider, such as a behavioral health provider, that you
want to develop shared services with. It could be CMS
payment models that you want to apply for. Whatever
fits best with your agency's strategies, your resources,
and your system's needs is the best place to start.
▌ You are not willing to work with patients without
a palliative care plan.
▌ It is more worthwhile to only work with the larger
organizations.
▌ They want to provide all services from in-house.
▌ They do not realize the impact you have on patient
outcomes and utilization.
▌ They do not know their current hospice utilization
levels.
Just as important as this empirical data,
you must also attend to the more
qualitative perceptions, or - more
commonly - misperceptions,
that may exist.
Newsline / Fall 2021 13

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NHPCO NewsLine Fall 2021

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