The University Health System announced plans Wednesday to open a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) clinic at Martha Jefferson Hospital, in partnership with the Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA) and the Riverside Health System.
PACE is a national program which provides health care to patients receiving Medicare and Medicaid benefits, as well as privately insured seniors in full-time nursing home care.
"Nursing homes are expensive," said Larry Fitzgerald, the University Health System's chief financial officer. "The state of Virginia is encouraging development of PACE units as enhancing quality of care and managing cost in a good manner."
JABA Chief Executive Officer Gordon Walker said the board has discussed the development of a PACE clinic for the last six years. Eight clinics currently operate in the state, and another six are planned for the future. The new clinic at Martha Jefferson will coordinate care for about 150 Virginia seniors.
Walker said Riverside Health System's partnership eased the clinic's opening, since Riverside has experience implementing PACE. The Affordable Care Act also helped make the clinic possible by lowering costs even for frequent patients.
"The heart of the Obamacare bill is about providing high-quality access [to health care] for Americans," Fitzgerald said. "PACE provides care and quality for a high-risk population, and this is consistent with the ideas of the health care act."
JABA manages a comprehensive health plan, put together by social workers, nurses and other community members, which aims to lower unnecessary hospital admissions. Fitzgerald said individuals will come to the PACE center two or three times a week and interact with others in their age group with similar medical problems.
"With PACE, quality of care is enhanced, quality of life is enhanced, and the cost is better-distributed," Fitzgerald said. "Everyone comes out on top."
The new PACE clinics could represent a future marked by nontraditional means of providing health care, he added.
"As we move forward over the next 10 years, we're going to see a lot of alternative methods of health care delivery," Fitzgerald said.
Renovation of part of the Martha Jefferson Hospital is set to begin next month, and the first acceptances of patients are scheduled for April 1 of next year.
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