Patient Pattern | News & Updates
Recent News & Updates
While the COVID pandemic has changed much in post-acute and long term care, efforts to provide quality care and track outcomes, trends, and opportunities for improvement have continued unabated. Facilities didn’t swap quality measures for COVID care, they just added it to what they were already doing…
Collaborative Strategies for COVID-19
Question and Answers: Literature Review & Identifying Frailty Risk with Dr. Steven Buslovich.
Frailty Scores for a True Picture
Date: January 1, 2020
Imagine two women are admitted to your facility. They have similar diagnoses, and they both seem generally happy and alert. However, just as two people who have similar possessions, homes, and jobs may have very different credit scores, these two women could have very different frailty levels and risks.
According to Steven Buslovich, MD, MSHCPM, cofounder and CEO of Patient Pattern, frailty isn’t a new concept — in fact, it is a global standard of clinical risk.“The U.S. is about 10 to 15 years behind other countries in incorporating frailty into clinical management strategies,” he said.
Potential effect of screening for subtle cognitive deficits on hospital readmission
To the Editor: Several conditions that significantly affect functionality and independence may be subtle and go unrecognized, potentially leading to nonadherence to medical recommendations and readmission. Existing risk‐prediction models for hospital readmission have been shown to perform poorly.1 Studies suggest that unrecognized cognitive deficits may exist after the illness that necessitated the admission was successfully treated, resulting in an unappreciated risk for readmission.
Meditations on Geriatric Medicine
Requiem for a Doctor
According to Steven Buslovich, MD, MSHCPM, cofounder and CEO of Patient Pattern, frailty isn’t a new concept — in fact, it is a global standard of clinical risk.“The U.S. is about 10 to 15 years behind other countries in incorporating frailty into clinical management strategies,” he said. Generally defined as the accumulation of chronic illnesses and the loss of function and/or cognition, Dr. Buslovich said, “frailty is characterized by sudden declines and diminished recovery from every minor illness or trauma.” He added, “Frailty is a measurement of risk and vulnerability for adverse outcomes.”
Patient Pattern Rises to the Top of Shark Tank
Steven Buslovich, MD, MSHCPM, is not just a geriatrician. Some, he says, call him a “born geriatrician.” So it’s only fitting that someone so passionate about his work would develop innovative technology to improve quality of care for frail older patients. Dr. Buslovich is Co-Founder and CEO of Patient Pattern, winner of the Audience Choice Award in the Society’s recent Shark Tank competition, held during the Annual Conference in March. Dr. Buslovich and his team won for their innovative software that enables medical directors to manage and oversee their entire facility population, identify priority at-risk patients, and improve meaningful outcomes.
Dr. Steven Buslovich, Patient Pattern CEO, says fast growth is on tap
Dr. Steven Buslovich says the idea for Patient Pattern came while he was completing fellowship training in Manhattan and saw opportunities in the geriatric market.
As PDPM Approaches, Assessing Frailty Can Help Predict Outcomes, Costs
Frailty is common among older people, and a new study, “Global Incidence of Frailty and Prefrailty among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis,” suggests the value of assessing and addressing frailty to prevent surprises and minimize its negative consequences.
Characterized by sudden declines and diminished recovery from illness or trauma, frailty is a result of the natural aging process. In the study, published on JAMA Network Open, the authors found approximately one in six community-dwelling older people may have frailty, with a higher incidence in women.
Change in Command Raises Clinician Profile
When PDPM gets the handoff from RUGs IV on Oct. 1, clinical leadership will be critical.
The medical director should be encouraged to lead a “deeper dive” in the admissions process, Dr. Steven Buslovich says. “There is a misconception that we can just use the hospital diagnosis under PDPM, but diagnosis information on the hospital discharge summary lacks depth and contains only a small fraction of information about the patient’s medical issues and history,” he says, “If we count solely on this information, we miss opportunities for reimbursement.”
It is key to create a process that reallocates staffing and resources from therapy services to the admissions process. This doesn’t necessarily mean new hires, Buslovich says, but “repurposing” existing staff to do more thorough record reviews and clinical assessments.
Experts Offer Tips for PDPM Success During Webinar
Ultimately, Dr. Buslovich said, “We have the responsibility to ensure that patients get the optimal level of care based on their goals. When the walls come down on therapy minutes, we will see more creativity in terms of what is most beneficial for patients. The good thing about PDPM is that outcomes are still the priority and will be the driver of long-term success.” He added, “We will need to look at how patients are progressing and what reassessments might be necessary. Facilities will look to you to guide them, and this creates an opportunity for us to be clinical leaders and help ensure appropriate and adequate reimbursement.”