Integrated Care Solutions
Cost-effectively Enabling Value-based Care

T

he transition to a value-based healthcare model is prompting healthcare providers to adopt an organizational structure that simultaneously improves patient outcomes and reduces the overall cost of care. The situation necessitates care providers to streamline health management strategies and risk stratification by aligning people, processes, and technology. This market gap for a comprehensive care management model spurred the inception of Integrated Care Solutions (ICS), a technology-enabled care coordination company that helps organizations spearhead the transformation to value-based healthcare.

ICS’s care management approach marries technology through their Care+ platform with clinical and non-clinical care services for the best outcomes. ICS can partner at any point in their customer’s value-based care journey and design a customized set of services to meet the client’s unique needs. Their offerings include everything from patient-centric clinical services and data-driven technological solutions to customized offerings that can cater to patients and their specific needs.

For example, healthcare providers prescribe a unique care setting for each patient leaving the hospital. ICS assigns a registered nurse to oversee all care delivery. The nurse acts as a key resource for the patient and their family and advocates on their behalf through different care settings—be it skilled nursing, home health, or hospice. They also enable easy and direct interaction with the care team and keep clinicians updated on the longitudinal care plan for seamless transitions of care and aligned care delivery.

ICS’s proprietary software, Care+, was specifically developed to facilitate streamlined care coordination for better patient outcomes. Care+ arms the clinicians with task and workload management tools while offering a robust dashboard with analytics that providers can use to augment their clinical, operational, and financial goals under value-based care. The platform also updates the primary care provider on the patients’ current condition in real-time to monitor their health from anywhere in the US.

ICS’s care coordination team includes trained clinicians who are experts in end-of-life, advanced care planning, palliative care, and behavioral health, along with members experienced in social determinants of health, health equity, and community resources. Since determinants of patient outcomes are not fully clinical, ICS has non-clinical services to complete their comprehensive care management model. With the help of integrated delivery networks, the organization can arrange for a patient’s transportation, home environment modifications, meals, and other social determinant support. The organization also writes advanced care plans for the patient’s primary care provider and coordinates other in-home services such as mobile diagnostics, mobile labs, or medics in the case of emergencies. As Brian Fuller, CEO of ICS, states, “The care coordination model should address all patient needs, clinical or not, to achieve optimal outcomes from both a cost of care and patient quality and experience perspective.”

ICS’s business model and incentives are designed to fully align with that of the stakeholders. The company also fosters in-depth consulting relationships with their partners, offering them advisory solutions. Their partnership agreement is structured to allow for the company to be rewarded only when client goals are reached, including sharing financial risk.

In their engagements with hospitals, Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), and physician group practices, ICS has been able to reduce the cost of care by as much as 20%+ for many patients as opposed to the standard 4-5% offered by other care management firms. Their risk-sharing agreements and quality outcome accountability are value propositions that make them stand out from the competition. “Our services and technology model translate to value for all the entities that are participating in value-based care,” adds Ajay Singh, Vice-President, ICS.