Edward-Elmhurst Health Gives Patients More Referral Choices With Aidin

Edward-Elmhurst Health (EEH), one of the larger integrated health systems in Illinois, wants to give patients more choice in terms of where they are referred to in post-acute care.

The Illinois-based 736-bed hospital system, with three hospitals including Edward Hospital, Elmhurst Hospital and Linden Oaks Behavioral Health, adopted healthcare technology company Aidin last year, and their patients have more options in where they can go after their stay than ever before.

Since adding the referral system a few months into the pandemic, Edward-Elmhurst Health has seen its list of clinically appropriate provider options presented to patients and their families expand from one or two to as many as five. The hospital system’s referral volume showed an increase of more than 600% during that time.

Hospital length-of-stay for post-acute patients, a key metric for EEH, decreased from 7.14 days to 5.67 days.

They aren’t the only hospital system impressed with their improved metrics utilizing Aidin.

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, which includes a network of seven hospitals in Columbus with more than 1,400 beds, began using the referral system in October and has seen average length-of-stay reduced and its patient discharge process improved, saving it $4 million in the first year.

“Nationwide today, less than 20% of Medicare recipients using services at a skilled nursing facility choose the best quality nursing home or home health agency available to them,” Aidin CEO Russ Graney explained to Skilled Nursing News earlier this summer. “Most just choose one that’s closest to home. With Aidin, 82% of our patients choose the best quality provider and that’s something that we track down to ensure that they’re actually engaging the patients with all the information that’s available.”

While Aidin makes the referral process more competitive for the hospital system’s SNF partners, it comes with the added benefit of more patient choice and higher quality care and EEH says SNF operators embraced it right away.

“That’s not to say they didn’t think I was crazy when I came to them and said we are going to do this two months into a global pandemic,” Kerrie Samuelian, systems manager of post-acute transitions at EEH, said. “But they definitely embraced it and have stood with us and I think have even gotten some referrals that they never would have [before].”

For SNFs looking to regain some of those referrals lost during the pandemic, Samuelian had one recommendation: better communication.

A recent poll from the American Health Care Association found that 84% of nursing homes said they are losing revenue due to fewer post-acute patients coming from the hospital.

“I would recommend they reach out to their hospital partners, and establish communication,” she said. “Be truthful with what you can accept and what you can’t accept and don’t try to take on more than you can handle, be realistic with what you can and can’t do.”

One of the biggest advantages of Aidin is the wider range of rehabilitation and nursing services it makes available for EEH patients.

With Aidin, EEH also avoids more time-intensive, cumbersome, manual referral and data logging processes.

With hospitals paying closer attention to what happens when they discharge patients to skilled nursing facilities, one-way SNFs can show their value and thrive in the modern post-acute care continuum is with new technology like Aidin.

“We have to give patients choices,” Samuelian said. “This allows us to open up options, but still get the patients the best choice available based on quality and patient satisfaction.”