Cross-Sector Collaborations Improve Care for Older Adults, Study Finds

Healthcare providers that form partnerships with a wide range of organizations within and outside of the industry could prevent unnecessary utilization and better control costs, reports Modern Healthcare . Communities with active area agencies on aging that leverage government and regional funding to coordinate social services for older adults in communities throughout the country had lower hospital readmission rates, according to a study published Monday in Health Affairs . The informal relationships may indicate a denser web of interconnection across community organizations that can support the handoffs that help individuals recover after being released from the hospital and avoid readmission, said lead author Amanda Brewster, an associate research scientist at the Yale School of Public Health. "These results suggest that area agencies on aging could be a promising partner for healthcare organizations looking to connect patients with social services to fill gaps in social determinants." Notably, having broad formal collaborations was not associated with reduced readmission rates but was associated with higher Medicare spending per beneficiary. Counties with area agencies on aging that had 10 or more formal collaborations had annual Medicare spending that was $588 higher per beneficiary compared with those with the fewest formal affiliations. Informal agreements lend themselves to habitual collaborative work and joint priority setting, while formal relationships can be more restrictive, researchers said. Most informal partnerships, or ones that were not bound by a contract, were made with long-term care communities, advocacy organizations, and emergency preparedness agencies. Most formal relationships were between state health insurance assistance programs, Medicaid, and transportation agencies.