Parks Methodist Retirement Village - The Value of Experience
Q: What initially moved you to call RehabCare Group?
A: A high sense of urgency! We felt a need to change the way we were delivering therapy services to our residents. We wanted a rehabilitation program that would deliver appropriate therapies across our entire continuum of care ... a program that would be defined by high quality, efficiency and productivity.
Having just completed a major facility expansion, we had to have all of our clinical programs and personnel in place before we could open our new units. We were pressed for time. We needed help ... but who could meet our needs?
Our experience with contract therapy companies had been less than satisfactory... in fact, two of our previous contractors went out of business. We were considering several other companies and had even thought about operating the program in-house, when we heard about RehabCare from the administrator of a local hospital. His hospital was contracting with RehabCare for rehabilitation services, and he believed RehabCare had strengths that other contractors could not offer.
Long story short, he was right. We recognized that RehabCare is a successful, financially stable company that provides a wide variety of post-acute management and staffing services to healthcare facilities nationwide. Their broad base of business prevents them from being too dependent on any one product or market segment... which translates into stability.
While other contract therapy providers were struggling with PPS for skilled nursing, RehabCare's program model was designed to complement PPS. They've been very successful managing skilled nursing units, and as a result, have developed the systems, programs and procedures that bring real value to our operation.
Q: What do you believe is RehabCare Group's greatest value to the Parks Methodist Retirement Village?
A: RehabCare brought more to the table than we expected. Without a doubt, there is tremendous value in their systems and services that directly support our operation. These are not hypothetical concepts, but actual systems that support everything from patient assessments to billing. And their flexible approach to staffing helps us maintain an appropriate, cost-effective level of staff to meet variable caseload requirements.
Their skills and expertise were very helpful as we were going through the start-up of the new facility. We simply didn't have to worry about anything RehabCare was handling. When issues came up that required immediate attention, that's what we got -immediate attention. No excuses, no delays, no surprises.
Q: No surprises at all in your relationship with RehabCare Group?
A: Well, we were amazed by how well RehabCare was able to work with our staff and smoothly integrate their services into our programs. They went out of their way to maintain continuity of staffing by retaining and retraining as many of the people who were already in place as possible.
RehabCare was especially helpful in accommodating all the changes going on with our expansion. Communication with them was excellent, and they were very careful to keep us informed regarding their plans and their progress.
Also, their staff has worked very closely and very well with our staff to educate the community regarding our full line of services. This is very important and has contributed substantially to our growth.
Finally, quality of care has never been an issue. We expect quality and that's what we get. RehabCare is definitely resident-focused!
Q: What kind of results have you seen as a result of your association with RehabCare Group?
A: RehabCare's expertise helped to strengthen our program so that we can offer a variety of valuable care options for residents and their families. We've increased our census, including our Medicare census, by far more than what we had anticipated. This has been extremely important following our expansion.. we made a significant investment in our continuum of care and, with RehabCare's knowledge and day-to-day management skills, we've achieved a good return on that investment.
Because we offer a full continuum of care, we can offer our independent living residents a level of service they could never get on the outside. For example, if a spouse needs care, it's right next door. Not downtown. Not in another town. It's right here. And, the therapists can work with them when they return to their homes or apartments to help them readjust to their environment.
Q: An administrator at another facility told you about RehabCare. Given the same opportunity, what would you say about RehabCare?
A: I'd say it's the only company I know of that can take the anxiety out of contracting for rehabilitation services. They have a much broader base of operation than just skilled nursing, and have the experience to handle the complexity of PPS in a way that is financially sound and highly professional. In short, I'd say you can trust them. They know what they're doing, and they do it well.
Provided by: RehabCare Group