There are efforts underway to bypass those regulatory hoops without giving the green light to fraud. Portland boasts one of 25 programs nation-wide building a new model for end of life care. This is Elderplace, a day care center for seniors run by Providence Health Systems in Portland. It's the highlight of the day for 82 year old Eomon O'Connell. In addition to the company, O'Connell and about 450 others receive a panoply of services like physical therapy, transportation, and even help making funeral arrangements.
Patients tend to forgo life-saving emergency care.
But they are closely monitored. Doctors here even make house calls. Elderplace can offer such comprehensive treatment because it's paid a flat rate per patient. And Medical Director Ken Brummel-Smith says that means he doesn't have to bill for each service. Because we're liberated from having to artificially decide what fits into someone else's billing structure in order to get care justified, we can actually do the right thing more frequently, because we decide what does the person really need, not what fits under the billing structure.