The
New York State Department of Health tentatively approved creating a Transitional
Care Unit Demonstration Project at Erie County Medical Center, officials
announced today.
The purpose of a
Transitional Care Unit (TCU)—a less-costly and reimbursable service—is to
reduce the number of days incurred in the hospital for Medicare patients whose
stays exceed the necessary length of stay reimbursement rates. Patients who would receive care in the TCU
are medically stable with clear prognoses, but are still quite ill; those with
complex conditions and/or requiring costly care; or patients who will be
discharged to home within a few days.
“We are pleased that New York
State has approved our proposal to create a Transitional Care Unit. This unit will be the first of its kind
in Western New York. The unit will
result in better care for
this unique patient group and also be reimbursed more appropriately,” said Jody
L. Lomeo, CEO of ECMC Corp.
“The fact that the Department
of Health is referring to this initiative as a ‘demonstration project’
indicates to us that the New York State’s Division of Health Facility Planning
sees the validity in our proposal and that establishing a Transitional Care
Unit could set a more appropriate standard for care of this patient population across
the state,” explained Richard Cleland, ECMC’s Senior
Vice President of Operations. “We
anticipate that
our TCU should be operational as early as June of 2012.”
On an average day at
ECMC, 24 medical-surgical beds are occupied by patients for whom Medicare does not
pay. The medical center should
discharge these patients more expeditiously, typically to Medicare Skilled
Nursing Facility (SNF) beds, for which Medicare would pay for extended
convalescence. However, a
sufficient number of Medicare SNF beds are not available in Western New York. A TCU would meet some of the need for
additional beds, providing a unit that would administer the appropriate level
of care that is also Medicare-reimbursable. The TCU would appropriately be used to provide care for the
most complex and costly patient conditions, while allowing ECMC’s
medical-surgical beds to be used for patients requiring necessary
medical-surgical care.
“An ECMC TCU will bring in approximately $2.6 million in new
Medicare dollars (through payments for previously unpaid services) that
would yield about $1.6 million after expenses,” said Cleland. “The community will be the real
beneficiary of ECMC’s improved financial stability since we will have greater flexibility
to meet service needs, expand innovative concepts, and subsidize care to other
patients unable to afford health insurance.”
The final approval of
ECMC’s TCU is contingent upon final review of construction documents and
inspection by the New York State Department of Health.
ABOUT ERIE COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER: The ECMC Corporation
includes an advanced academic medical center (ECMC) with 550 inpatient beds and
136 skilled-nursing-home beds, on- and off-campus health centers, more than 30
outpatient specialty care clinics and a long-term care facility. ECMC is
the regional center for trauma, burn care, transplantation and rehabilitation
and is a major teaching facility for the University at Buffalo. Most ECMC
physicians, dentists and pharmacists are dedicated faculty members of the
university and/or members of a private practice plan.
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