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Older Adults’ Experience of Virtual Care: Action Steps to Increase Access and Equity

Older Adults’ Experience of Virtual Care: Action Steps to Increase Access and Equity was created as a partnership between West Health and USofCare. This playbook offers learnings and lessons for healthcare providers and policymakers from older adults’ experiences of virtual health care during the pandemic, featuring case studies from Geisinger, Medically Home, Gary and Mary West… Read more »

A Practical Guide to Implementing a Home-Based Palliative Care Program

As the US population continues to age, home-based palliative care will become increasingly  important to ensure community-dwelling seniors with serious illness are able to receive high-quality care that addresses their medical and psychosocial needs – all while maximizing doctor-patient continuity and supporting shared decision making. This guide shares vital next steps to advance healthcare and… Read more »

Three Ways to Lower Healthcare Costs

The Health Savers Initiative is a project of West Health, the Committee for the Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), and Arnold Ventures, which identifies bold and concrete policy options to make healthcare more affordable for the federal government, businesses, and households. The purpose of the Health Savers Initiative is to develop policy-ready options that will lower… Read more »

A national survey of caregiver’s own experiences and perceptions of U.S. health care system when addressing their health and caring for an older adult

BMC Health Services Research Published: January 29, 2021 Authors: Jill C. Slaboda | Sandalh H. Nelson | Zia Agha | Gregory J. Norman  Background Caregiving is a demanding role that can negatively impact a person’s health and well-being. As such, adequate access to health care is important for maintaining the family caregiver’s own personal health…. Read more »

Malnutrition Resources Toolkit

This toolkit was developed by West Health and the University of North Carolina to support ED staff in screening senior patients for food insecurity.

Letter to Congressional Leadership Calling for Hospital Contracting Reform

In addition to the primary goal of protecting patients from surprise medical bills, we are writing to ensure that any surprise billing legislation that is included in the end-of-year package contain hospital contracting reform as proposed in the Lower Health Care Costs Act.

Reducing Emergency Department Transfers from Skilled Nursing Facilities through an Emergency Physician Telemedicine Service

Transfers of skilled nursing facility (SNF) residents to emergency departments (ED) are linked to morbidity, mortality and significant cost, especially when transfers result in hospital admissions. This study investigated an alternative approach for emergency care delivery comprised of SNF-based telemedicine services provided by emergency physicians (EP). We compared this on-site emergency care option to traditional ED-based care, evaluating hospital admission rates following care by an EP.

Emergency Medical Technician-Facilitated Telehealth Visits: A New Model to Expand Home-Based Primary Care for Homebound Seniors

August 7, 2020 Authors: Karen A. Abrashkin1, A. Camille McBride1, Jill C. Slaboda 2, Michael Kurliand 2, Amparo Abel-Bey 1, Atika Turkistani 1, Kayla Finuf 1, Renee Pekmazaris 1 Affiliations: 1Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, NY, USA; 2West Health, La Jolla, CA, USA Objective: As the number of older adults living in the United States… Read more »