8 SEPTEMBER 2024IN MY OPINIONIntegrating a Continuum of Post-Acute, Home, and Supportive Care within a Public, Community Hospital SystemBy J. Morgan Allen, CHPCA, CMPE, Director, Home and Supportive Care Service Line, Chesapeake Regional HealthcareWith the ever-evolving landscape of the U.S. healthcare industry, integration across the continuum has become a driving factor of success. Healthcare and hospital systems must embrace both the pre-and post-acute continuum of care beyond the walls of the hospital and the traditional outpatient services of a healthcare provider. Implementing a comprehensive and integrated continuum of care may come easier to large systems, with a multitude of resources, however, it is critically important for independent or community hospitals and health systems to develop a wide-ranging continuum strategy. Chesapeake Regional Healthcare (CRH) has a long-established history serving the communities of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina as a publicly backed, community hospital system with deep civic roots across the region. Chesapeake Regional Healthcare is anchored by the 310-bed Chesapeake Regional Medical Center with the pristine, brand-new Richard S. Bray Critical Care Tower and the newly completed Priority Toyota Cancer Center. The development of Chesapeake Regional's Home and Supportive Care service line has strengthened the organization's investment in the community by extending the healthcare delivered in the health system's state-of-the-art facilities, to care that goes directly into the community with a goal of "Meeting You Where You Are" for patients and families.Launching Home and Supportive Care has moved CRH beyond traditional home health and hospice services, to enhance the system's robust acute care offerings, employed provider medical groups, and outpatient services, by developing a multi-inclusive approach to community-based care and care in the home. CRH has made a deliberate shift in focus to enhance the continuity of care for patients and families. In doing so, it has grouped the system's home care services, skilled home health, hospice, palliative medicine, J. Morgan Allen
< Page 7 | Page 9 >