Colleagues,
We'd like to think that COLLAGE is recession-proof. That participating in the membership consortium will, over the long haul, produce program and infrastructure efficiencies, better health and wellness decision making and some cost savings. Your retort might be, "Where's the proof?
COLLAGE members and other aging services leaders have been asked to reflect on the inherent value of the COLLAGE program. Below are excerpted comments from three of the interviews:
David Gehm, President and CEO of Lutheran Homes of Michigan commented: "What we found with COLLAGE, and I think we're just beginning as the uptake is increasing within our organization, is in the area of the
efficiencies that it creates because it has standardized a very critical function for us that is the assessment, the data gathering, and the ability to turn that into good decisions. We've gone from an organization that just in our home care agency had 18 different assessment tools that we were using to now one...."
Robyn Stone, Executive Director, Institute for the Future of Aging Services (IFAS) and Senior Vice President of Research, AAHSA: "I know that making the business case for COLLAGE can be challenging particularly in economic downturn times....But I will say that in this day of evidence-based work, and if you think about the health sector, in general there's tremendous focus in hospitals, in primary care, in all of the various settings
you need a tool like COLLAGE in order to really understand the characteristics of the consumers that you are serving, the needs that they have, the ways in which you can intervene to improve and actually mitigate some of the problems that may be more costly down the line...the most important thing for CFOs to really think about is what is their ROI in terms of how you actually can apply better practice, how you can actually get better information for consumers and their families, and how you are actually able to see how you are doing over time relative to yourself before and after and well as relative to other organizations in your field."
Gary Mohn, President and CEO, Alexian Village of Milwaukee: "The question of affordability of participating in something like COLLAGE reminds me recently in hearing that there are some organizations that aren't participating in programs that measure their actuarials....We need to measure what kinds of activities and services we're providing to people to promote their health and wellness. That's why they're coming here. They want financial security, they want independence, they want health and wellness, they want a full quality of life. It's
part of what we need to be doing, and I think that it's the cost of doing business within the expectation of the consumer that we provide services to. The COLLAGE data helps us to look at things from the standpoint of what are our highest priorities."
With the rollout of the new
web-based software this month, COLLAGE will be looking to track and measure resident "movement" across the continuum. We want to be able to demonstrate that the COLLAGE program has helped residents live longer and healthier lives than their peers living in communities that are not participating in COLLAGE.
Are you ready to start the COLLAGE conversation?
