Long term care providers across the nation are facing the increasingly critical dilemma of watching costs begin to outpace revenues. Yet, in carefully analyzing those who are successfully navigating this challenge, a common characteristic is observed: nearly all have taken concrete steps to improve patient care.
Revenue Benefits of Stepping Into the Problem
It might seem logical that the issue of decreasing revenues would force long term care providers to reduce costs by trimming expensive outlays related to patient care. What seems less logical, though, is that by increasing measures to keep their patients healthier, they actually are, in-fact, cutting back on patient care expenses.
While this Language of Care article addresses medical practices and ambulatory care, the concepts it embodies as the key to returning to growing profitability can also apply to long term care. The reasons behind its effectiveness include:
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Reduced cost of doing business — By focusing on improving patient care, the very conditions that are often the most costly to address can be dramatically reduced in terms of both incidence and duration.
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Patient retention — Healthier and happier patients tend to stay in their long term care facilities (instead of switching to another) and deliver a reliable revenue source for the provider. And since they are also healthier, the costs associated with this are controlled.
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Patient growth — Even in the internet age, the importance of customer satisfaction and the power of word-of-mouth are still vital to business success. In fact, this may be truer today than ever. Providers delivering consistent patient satisfaction through improved patient care benefit from not just the patients talking about their experience, but their families as well. In addition, future patients pay much closer attention to peer reviews than sales pitches.
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Staff retention — Finding and retaining competent employees is also positively affected when long term care providers improve their working conditions by improving the care of patients. Healthier patients mean reduced and simplified workloads for care providers. This results in reduced turnover and a generally more satisfied, loyal staff.
The key takeaway is that long term care facilities can create a win-win dynamic by systematically working to improve patient care. To do so effectively and efficiently requires reliance on such things as proper information on supplies inventory costs and streamlined management practices.
At Concordance Healthcare Solutions, we are proud of our long history of supporting the needs of long term care providers with quality medical products along with specific supply chain solutions. Contact us here to learn more about how we can support the needs of your facility.
