UC Berkeley Study Reveals WelbeHealth’s Rapid Adaptation To COVID-19 Eldercare Yielded Exceptional Results And Saved Lives

July 14, 2021

As policy momentum grows toward home and community-based services, study recommends that policy choices focus on the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), and it’s 45-year track record of success in serving the most complex elderly patients.

SILICON VALLEY, Calif., July 14, 2021 — A new study from UC Berkeley’s Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE) features WelbeHealth in a case study illustrating how this California eldercare PACE provider responded early and decisively to the COVID-19 crisis with exceptional results.

“By rapidly transforming its care model, WelbeHealth had exceptional results: as COVID-19 cases rose across the country — and in particular within nursing home populations — WelbeHealth did not have a single COVID-19 death during the first 8 months of the pandemic. The first WelbeHealth loss from COVID-19 occurred on November 21, 2020 and 10 WelbeHealth participants died of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.”

-UC Berkeley

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Welbehealth: Case Study of Adapting PACE Under COVID-19

Key findings:

WelbeHealth and the PACE community overall had lower death rates than nursing homes; the national PACE COVID-19 death rate was 3.8%, nearly one-third the 11.8% death rate in nursing homes. WelbeHealth calculated a death rate of 2.4%.
WelbeHealth acted early and decisively to minimize exposure with an Incident Command response strategy, dispersing tablets for telehealth visits, PPE, thermometers, food, medication, and other essentials into participants’ homes, and providing nearly all care remotely, which proved effective.
PACE’s capitated payment model moves the risk from payor to care provider, aligning incentives and encouraging innovation and efficiency in keeping patients well.
Technology provided an important amplification to PACE’s model of care — it allowed for regular check-ins and informed decision-making on care needs. However, the social aspect of the PACE day center cannot be replaced by technology, and it is clear that in-person visits are vital.
With America’s senior citizen population set to double by 2040, the demand for long-term care will skyrocket. The pandemic underscored that work must begin now to meet the needs of present and future vulnerable elders.
Existing home and community-based services (HCBS) such as PACE demonstrated profound success during the pandemic leading to fresh momentum among policymakers to expand these options further.

PACE’s person-to-person, fully integrated approach maintains the participant’s highest level of independence and quality of life[i]; PACE participants experience an 80% drop in rates of depression after joining.[ii] At a time when America is searching for a better way forward in eldercare, PACE is a proven approach for this vulnerable group.

“While PACE has a 45-year track record of success, it remains optional in Medicaid while nursing home benefits are required — it’s time for every vulnerable elder in the country to have access to this gold standard of long-term care,” said Elizabeth Carty, Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer of WelbeHealth.

Many PACE participants reside in medically underserved areas like San Joaquin County, California, where WelbeHealth’s creative problem-solving and speed to action kept seniors safe in their homes when resources for the elderly were relatively scarce.

“As other healthcare organizations were assessing the potential impact and spread of the pandemic, the WelbeHealth team had already taken its crisis response to the next level, ” said Amy Shin, former CEO of Health Plan of San Joaquin. “I was impressed with how nimbly this team charted out a plan not only to keep seniors safe and vaccinated but to vaccinate the community as well. This study’s findings should alert legislators that this style of home and community-based services is the ideal model of care for frail seniors.”

What is PACE?
PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) serves low-income seniors who meet their state requirement for nursing home level care allowing them to live independently in their own homes and communities while receiving fully coordinated medical and dental care, physical and occupational therapy, transportation, meals, day programs, home care assistance and more, managed by an 11-person integrated care team. The “one-stop-shop” PACE day centers are the hub of the program, offering seniors a pleasant place to receive care, socialize and enjoy meals within a state-of-the-art facility.

About WelbeHealth
WelbeHealth is a physician-led healthcare organization that provides seniors with high-quality, compassionate care so they can live in their own homes and communities rather than a nursing home. To accomplish this, WelbeHealth uses the PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) model. WelbeHealth currently operates four programs in the Stockton/Modesto, Pasadena/Burbank, Long Beach, and Fresno communities of California.

[i] Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation, “Care That Works: Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly.” https://www.healthinnovation.org/resources/publications/care-that-works-pace

[ii] National PACE Association, “COVID Data Demonstrates That the PACE Model Is Safer Than Nursing Home Care.” https://www.npaonline.org/about-npa/press-releases/covid-data-demonstrates-pace-model-safer-nursing-home-care

mHealthIntelligence: California Provider Sees Telehealth as an Integral Part of PACE Programs

June 7, 2021

WelbeHealth President Matt Patterson says COVID-19 has taught the industry a good lesson on how to use telehealth, and it should be a permanent part of the senior care service.

By Eric Wicklund

May 27, 2021 – A California-based healthcare provider is integrating telehealth into its PACE programs, saying the connected health platform improves its ability to provide value-based care for seniors in their own homes.

While the focus of PACE programs has been on in-person care, the coronavirus pandemic prompted many to shift to connected health to maintain contact with their patients. For WelbeHealth, that meant partnering with Grandpad to equip patients with senior-friendly mHealth tablets that allow them to connect with caregivers on-demand and access health and wellness resources online.

“COVID-19 introduced the need for us to pivot to telehealth,” says WelbeHealth President Matt Patterson. “And in the process, we have saved lives.”

WelbeHealth is one of hundreds of providers focused on the senior care market, many of which participate in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) program. Developed by CMS roughly 30 years ago as a capitated model of care for dual-eligible beneficiaries (ninety percent are dual-eligible), it provides all necessary medical care, therapies, long-term care and services, meals, socialization, transportation, day center services, and activities.

There are currently 135 PACE programs in 31 states, enrolling between 50 and 3,000 patients, for a total of more than 54,000 seniors served. The programs are based in a care center and feature an interdisciplinary care team (IDT) of primary care physicians, nurses, therapists, social workers, dieticians, home care professionals, and others and offers a variety of services on-site and in the home.

PACE programs have traditionally shied away from telehealth, but COVID-19 changed that line of thinking. Now Patterson and his team are at the forefront of a new wave of care providers who want to make telehealth an integral part of the program.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to extend the reach of PACE (and) do more to improve and enrich the lives of our participants,” says Patterson, a former naval surgeon who served as president of digital health pioneer AirStrip before moving into the senior care space.

Telehealth gives PACE programs with WelbeHealth’s the ability to be there for seniors at any time, and to address issues that might not be addressed during in-person visits. That’s important at a time when, mostly due to COVID-19 restrictions, seniors are experiencing high rates of depression, anxiety, stress and substance abuse.

That point has been proven in the Grandpad project. According to a case study, seniors in the WelbeHealth program logged nearly 34,000 hours on the tablets – using both synchronous and asynchronous services – between March of 2020 and March of 2021, including more than 1,500 hours accessing mental health treatment. They also used the tablets to access medical care and exercises aimed at treating cognitive decline.

Patterson says emergency measures adopted by both state and federal governments during the COVID-19 public health emergency have enabled PACE programs to use telehealth more freely. He and his company have been lobbying state officials to make those freedoms permanent.

On the federal level, a bill introduced in March and now before Congress would ensure permanent coverage for audio-only telehealth services for Medicare Advantage and PACE programs, giving providers like WelbeHealth the freedom to incorporate phone calls and non-video telehealth platforms into care plans.

The benefits of connected care are numerous. On-demand access to care providers means seniors can go about their day knowing there’s someone always available should an emergency occur. They have instant access to health and wellness resources that go beyond what they’re getting when the nurse comes by for a visit. They can also collaborate more often on medication management, keep track of daily vital signs, or just talk to someone if they’re lonely or depressed.

Patterson says the pandemic is giving WelbeHealth and others the time to prove the value of connected health and to gather data and experiences to support permanent coverage.

That will be important. CMS has traditionally been very reluctant to expand telehealth coverage and has long argued that it needs evidence that these tools and platforms improve clinical outcomes and reduce wasteful expenses and unnecessary treatments. In short, they want proof.

“PACE is an ideal model for integrating high-touch and virtual care,” Patterson counters. And he wants to do more of that.

“Telehealth is definitely not a replacement (for in-person care), but it gives us more tools, and we want to use these tools for what our participants desire,” he says. “As an organization, we only do well when our participants do well. And they’re doing well.”

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KSEE 24: WelbeHealth PACE in Fresno vaccinates 500th person against COVID-19

March 18, 2021

Home-based eldercare startup acts as community vaccinator to protect locals.

March 18, 2021 (KSEE) – The team at WelbeHealth PACE in Fresno celebrated on Thursday as they administered the 500th COVID-19 vaccine to a member of the Fresno community.

“I feel good, I feel great. The staff is great too… I will recommend it to anybody,” said Samuel Sousa, their 500th person to be vaccinated.

“We sit kind of in the heart of a lot of the underserved population when it comes to the senior population, so we’re a perfect location for them to come in.”

WelbeHealth has worked hard to reach out to the public by vaccinating communities in all 4 of its locations, frequently offering to help people reach the site. It was among the first PACE operators in the nation to receive COVID-19 vaccines in 2020.

“We’re unique in the sense that we provide transportation. So anybody that is 55 years and older that isn’t able to get a vaccination, they can actually call us, and we’ll go pick them up,” said Nicole Butler, Director of Center Operations for WelbeHealth.

WelbeHealth partnered with Fresno County to serve as a community vaccination site at the start of 2021, with appointments filling up and long lines forming as people waited patiently for the jab.

“And we sit kind of in the heart of a lot of the underserved population when it comes to the senior population, so we’re a perfect location for them to come in,” said Butler.

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Welbe’s Long Beach PACE Center Launches

August 3, 2020

The Long Beach Press Telegram covered the launch of our newest PACE center in Long Beach – LA Coast PACE:

LONG BEACH

By Gary Metzker

The golden years aren’t so golden for many these days, as the coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of abating.

At least 38,000 U.S. residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities for older adults have died from the coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control. More than 142,000 people at those facilities have contracted the virus, and at least 90,000 more cases are suspected.

In California, there have been more than 2,400 deaths in long-term care facilities, and according to the Long Beach Health and Human Services Department, 118 deaths have been associated with long-term care facilities in the city.

Many families are not aware that there are other alternatives besides skilled nursing or assisted living facilities, especially during this health crisis.

WelbeHealth is an operator of Medicaid’s Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) across California. Its newest facility is in Long Beach at 1220 E. Fourth St., but because of the coronavirus pandemic, no one is visiting the location. Instead, the company has transitioned to a remote, at-home care model to serve seniors while keeping them physically shielded from the spread of the virus.

According to Sophia Guel-Valenzuela, regional vice president and executive director of the Long Beach facility, having seniors in a PACE program is a safer alternative because it can provide necessities, meal deliveries throughout the day, assistance in the home and meaningful social engagement.

“There has never been a stronger imperative to keep seniors living more independently in their homes and communities,” she said. “Our goal is to keep seniors socially engaged through games and special events. It’s important to keep people safe.”

Guel-Valenzuela said each client gets a 4G LTE tablet to use that enables them to talk to a doctor or a social worker as well as interacting with other people.

“The highlight of my week is to see the engagement going on,” she said. “Engagement coordinators host trivia games, bingo, card games. It’s like a big Zoom meeting.”

Guel-Valenzuela believes the combination of staying at home with interactivity is the template of the future for senior care.

“It’s safer to stay at home now,” she said. “I’ve been doing this for 18 years and this model of coordinated care is something I believe in.”

PACE provides comprehensive medical and social services enabling older adults to live in the community instead of a nursing home or other care facility. Its services are available at no cost to most participants as part of their Medicare and MediCal benefits.

“In our HomePACE model of remote care, we help seniors stay healthy and thriving while avoiding nursing facilities, which have tragically become hotbeds for the spread of coronavirus,” said Dr. Si France, founder and CEO of WelbeHealth in a statement. “We’re excited to expand our all-inclusive model of care into greater Long Beach to serve more vulnerable seniors when they need it most.”

WelbeHealth’s Long Beach location is accepting applications. Families can call 1-800-734-8041.

To learn more about PACE and services we provide, click here.

Spectrum 1 News: PACE Offers Alternative to Assisted Living Facilities

June 30, 2020

Spectrum News 1 aired a news story highlighting how PACE offers an alternative to assisted living facilities and nursing homes for seniors. The story featured our new Long Beach facility – LA Coast PACE and discuss how we have changed the model to deliver many of the health and long-term care services to the participants home via technology. Also included in the story was an interview with one of our participants, Bernadette McCoy, who was drawn to the program because it helped keep her living independently in her home and because it was covered under Medicare and Medicaid. Click here to view the story in its entirety.

To learn more about the services PACE provides, click here.

Reflecting on our values

June 16, 2020

An open letter to our WelbeHealth team members

Dear team,

Thank you for persevering through this difficult week. I continue to reflect with heartache on the tragic injustice of George Floyd’s death, and on the systemic racism faced by people of color day after day, generation after generation.

As an organization, we condemn these senseless and racist acts of police brutality. These violations of basic human rights are antithetical to our personal values and our values as a company. More broadly, we must also condemn racial injustice and prejudice wherever we encounter it: in our society, in our healthcare industry, and in ourselves.

We don’t have to look far to see examples of racial injustice in our own sphere of healthcare. People of color have been hit disproportionately hard by Covid-19, with black Americans dying at rates nearly double their proportion of the population. More news emerges every day about the stark disparities in testing and care for disenfranchised communities.

I believe the work we do can be part of the solution. WelbeHealth was founded on the conviction that every person has immeasurable worth and beauty. Our sole purpose since day one has been to serve the most vulnerable seniors with love and compassion in un-served and under-served communities. We directly combat many social injustices through our PACE services and our culture of cherishing each person, which we call Courage to Love.

But we also understand that status quo is not good enough. We must always strive to do better. As our company grows, I am committed to building a foundation of diversity, inclusion, and belonging. I am committed to better understanding the experiences of our team and our participants — including the experience of being a person of color in our society and our organization. I am committed to self-reflection, learning, and improvement.

To those in our WelbeHealth family who themselves are victims of racism, I know that I will never fully understand the pain you must be experiencing. But I do stand with you. And I recommit personally and as an organization to working every day toward meaningful positive change in our society.

PACE Brings the Senior Daycare Center Home

June 3, 2020

The Pasadena Now published an article on the changes that WelbeHealth and Pacific PACE have made to continue to deliver health and wellness services to nursing home eligible seniors in the safety of their own home:

If there is one thing that the pandemic has taught us, it’s that just about everything, except going somewhere, can be done at home. This has naturally had a huge effect on businesses, retail, and now, senior care.

At the outset of the COVID 19 crisis, and in response to the state’s “shelter at home” order, WelbeHealth in Pasadena transitioned from a central Pasadena location to a remote at-home care model to serve seniors, while keeping them physically shielded from the spread of the virus.

As explained on their website, PACE (The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) individually coordinates the care of each participant enrolled in the program, based on his or her needs with the goal of enabling them to remain living in their community. PACE is both a primary care provider and a health insurer. Currently, there are more than 240 PACE centers operating in more than 30 states.

“We had a day center where we wanted to prevent nursing home placement,” Regional VP & Pacific PACE Executive Director Sophia Guel-Valenzuela, explained Thursday. “We wanted to prevent trips to urgent care, or to the emergency room. We wanted to prevent people from isolation and loneliness.”

“So we bring them to our daycare center in Pasadena,” she continued. “We have activities, we have music therapy, we have recreation, we give them lunch. We have so many things to do, so many interactive, stimulating activities.”

But when the executive order came out for “shelter in place,” Pacific PACE suddenly had to support its participants in the home.

“So we basically implemented HomePACE,” said Guel-Valenzuela. “We transitioned to a HomePACE model where we are communicating with our participants with a Welbe Link. It’s a 4G LTE tablet.”

The simple-to-use tablet has become the key to instant communication between caregivers and patients, Guel-Valenzuela explained.

“We’re having video calls with our patients. And so we do recreation therapy. We have virtual bingo with them,” said Guel-Valenzuela. “They talk to their doctor, their social worker. Our personal care attendants have social calls with the patients. And so we’re supporting them as if they were in the center, but they’re out there at their home.”

The system organizes meal delivery as well, so patients don’t have to go out and be exposed unnecessarily to the grocery store or the pharmacy.

Pacific PACE Home also delivers all their medications to their home, and helps them with essentials like toothpaste and toilet paper.

‘We’re coordinating everything that they need to be safe,” Guel- Valenzuela pointed out. PACE also offers home care services, such as light housekeeping, and help with bathing and dressing.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the rate of confirmed COVID positive cases in PACE programs nationally is just 2.2%.

As Guel-Valenzuela noted, “Our care team is conducting daily phone calls for COVID-19 signs and symptoms among nearly 95 participants. We have not had any positive cases of COVID19, nor any hospitalizations related to COVID-19. We are equipped with appropriate PPE to serve our participants, and are literally saving lives through our HomePACE model of care.”

Following the success of the Pasadena program, WelbeHealth PACE plans a new operation in Long Beach on June 1.

For more about the services that PACE provides seniors so they can live more independently in their homes and communities, click here.

Senior Isolation – Interview with Debbie Sanchez

May 21, 2020

Radio Centro America conducted an interview with our own Debbie Sanchez, an Outreach Specialist for our Pacific PACE program in Pasadena. She discussed the challenges of senior isolation during this global coronavirus pandemic and how WelbeHealth and Pacific PACE have made changes to safely deliver the health and wellness senior care to frail elderly in our service areas, allowing them to continue living more independent lives in their homes and communities. Click here to watch the interview in Spanish.

For more about the services that PACE provides to help promote senior independence, click here.

Coronavirus has ravaged nursing homes. For many seniors, there’s a safer option.

May 4, 2020

PACE keeps frail seniors healthy, socially engaged, and thriving, even in these unprecedented times.

By Si France, MD, Founder + CEO, WelbeHealth

(This article was published on Medium.com)

May 4, 2020 – As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc and claim lives across the country, many seniors and their families have grown nervous about the potential for outbreaks in nursing homes. Housing about 1.4 million Americans, nursing facilities are a major component of our country’s senior care infrastructure and are facing increasing scrutiny as hotbeds for the spread of the virus. In late April, California reported that nearly 40 percent of the state’s coronavirus-related deaths had occurred in the facilities, with a Los Angeles Times analysis finding that the actual figure could be even higher.

Older adults and people with underlying medical conditions are already at high risk, with reports of over 20 percent morbidity for patients ages 80 and older. With the added risk of congregate living in close quarters, nursing homes have become some of the earliest sites of coronavirus outbreaks.

That’s not to say that nursing home operators are to blame for this situation. Even the most comprehensive infection control policies and procedures may not be able to fully contain the virus when the nature of the facilities’ design is so high-risk. In one of his recent daily briefings, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo described housing “vulnerable people in one place” as a “feeding frenzy” for coronavirus. Acknowledging the high risk, at least six states have now gone so far as to grant nursing facilities explicit immunity from coronavirus lawsuits.

Unfortunately, these challenges aren’t likely to go away any time soon. Though some states have already begun to relax social distancing requirements and stay-at-home orders, frail seniors will remain at extremely high risk. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that when distancing measures were loosened after the first wave of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, many cities saw long second waves of deaths in the months that followed. Our most hopeful projections show that the development, testing, and mass distribution of a coronavirus vaccine could take 12–18 months, though even that would be an extraordinarily short timeframe. Some scientists are now suggesting that Covid-19 will never be eradicated, returning in regular waves like the flu. Recent developments in antivirals and neutralizing antibodies provide some cause for optimism and could give us superior treatment options to reduce mortality rates.

Regardless of what the future holds, the devastation of this virus should force us to reevaluate the safest and most effective ways to provide high levels of care for the seniors in our community.

Considering the risk of outbreaks in nursing facilities, what are families to do for their loved ones who need high levels of care? While some may be able to care for elders in their homes, the vast majority cannot. Nursing home-eligible seniors typically need assistance with one or more activities of daily living, such as eating and preparing meals, bathing and grooming, or managing medications — a burden too great for many families to manage without additional support.

Rethinking senior care in the age of Covid-19

Suppose you could design a way to care for frail seniors in the time of coronavirus. What would the ideal model look like? For one, it would need to provide a high level of comprehensive care. Not just medicine, but support for seniors’ daily living activities, physical and occupational therapy, medication management, and more. It would also need to be covered by Medicare and Medicaid insurance, as nearly two-thirds of nursing home residents are supported primarily by Medicaid. Most importantly in our current environment, it would need to help seniors remain in their homes, avoiding the congregate living arrangements conducive to the rapid spread of viral outbreaks.

This model already exists, and thousands of nursing home-eligible seniors around the country are thriving in it.

It’s called the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), and I believe it will revolutionize the way we care for the most vulnerable members of our communities.

PACE was pioneered in the 1970s by On Lok, a community health organization in San Francisco’s Chinatown neighborhood, to provide support services to enable seniors to continue living in their homes rather than in an institutional care setting. Over time, it’s evolved into a comprehensive, fully integrated medical and social care model, funded by Medicare and Medicaid in 31 states around the country. The fundamental philosophy of PACE is that it is better for seniors and their families to be served in the community whenever possible. Though all PACE participants are eligible for nursing homes, 95 percent live at home.

The programs are both health plan and care provider, enabling a comprehensive approach to managing seniors’ care. An interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals actively monitor care plans and respond to changes in participants’ health. And PACE provides far more than just medical care, supporting seniors and their families with meals, transportation to appointments, social activities, and personal care services.

The evidence for PACE is overwhelming. The program has a long track record of positive outcomes, including longer life expectancy, improved quality of life, reduced rates of depression and dementia, and enhanced personal empowerment for seniors. According to a survey by the National PACE Association, 97.5 percent of family caregivers would recommend the program to someone in a similar situation. PACE even saves taxpayers money, reducing government healthcare spending by $10,000 per participant.

Research shows that PACE lengthens life and improves quality of life for nursing home-eligible seniors

PACE is also extremely well-positioned to address the growing crisis of social isolation in our senior communities. As the New York Times recently reported, social isolation and loneliness are major risk factors not only to seniors’ emotional health but their physical health as well. Isolation is associated with higher rates of heart disease and stroke and a 50 percent increased risk of dementia, with isolated seniors suffering “a mortality rate comparable to that linked to smoking, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, and physical inactivity.”

The pandemic has made it even more difficult for seniors to meet their social needs, with senior centers, day programs, and other public spaces closed. Many nursing homes have even barred all family members from visiting their loved ones. PACE can be the answer to this crisis, enabling seniors to remain home while still receiving exceptional medical care and socialization and activities.

In the time of Covid-19, it’s clear to me that PACE delivered safely in the home with social engagement is the single best option for seniors to stay healthy, active, and engaged while also more protected from the virus.

Like just about everyone these days, our programs have had to adapt during the pandemic. Historically, the PACE model has been centered around a day center, where participants receive medical treatments and physical therapy, socialize with friends and caregivers, and enjoy meals and activities. We’ve transitioned rapidly to deliver care and services remotely, to participants in their own homes.

We’ve rapidly adjusted the way we deliver care, closing our day centers until it’s safe to reopen and launching a remote care model to serve participants in their homes

At WelbeHealth, our PACE programs around California have shifted to a new model of care we’re calling HomePACE, delivering the same suite of services without the physical day center. We started by deploying 4G LTE “WelbeLink” tablets to participants’ homes. Our care teams use the devices to maintain regular video communications with seniors, making hundreds of calls per day to manage medical needs and complete social and behavioral health check-ins.

To contain the spread of the virus, we’ve moved our entire clinical and administrative team to a work-from-home model, never having two team members in the same room unless absolutely necessary for patient care. When in-person medical care is required, it’s done by a single caregiver in the home whenever possible, minimizing potential exposures to Covid-19. Our teams are also completing regular deliveries of medical supplies and meals to participants who need them, and we’re even resuming many of our usual games and social activities remotely via video.

Other PACE programs around the country are also innovating to continue serving seniors during this time. PACE Southeast Michigan partnered with a local grocer to deliver essential care packages of fresh food to participants each morning. LIFE Senior Services in Oklahoma hosted a drive-thru breakfast for its members. Care Resources PACE in Michigan secured a grant to launch telehealth services for its participants. CHA PACE in Massachusetts partnered with a local paramedic firm to provide 24/7 in-home care for Covid-positive patients. PACE programs in North Carolina helped seniors access live streams of religious services. From the beginning, PACE has been built around nimble and creative solutions to meet seniors’ needs, so it’s no surprise that so many programs across the country have been able to adapt to care for their participants.

Despite its long track record of success, PACE still has a massive opportunity for growth. Even in the healthcare community, many physicians and medical professionals are just learning about the program for the first time. PACE serves just over 50,000 seniors today, but the estimated eligible population is much larger: 2 million or more. Recent regulatory changes have begun to enable programs to grow more quickly and efficiently, and demand is growing as more seniors and families learn about the program.

For those of us who know PACE already, the case is clear. It’s the model of care I’d want for myself as a physician and for my senior family members.

Years from now, when we reflect on Covid-19, we’ll remember all the challenges we faced and the tragic loss of so many lives. I hope, though, that we’ll also be able to appreciate one bright spot: a turning point in the way we think about caring for the most vulnerable people in our communities. In the face of this pandemic, it’s more apparent to me than ever before that PACE has the potential to become the “gold standard” of care for frail seniors across our country.

For more on WelbeHealth services that safely provide comprehensive care for seniors so that they can live more independently, click here.

Separation anxiety: Coronavirus takes toll on those with Alzheimer’s, their loved ones

April 18, 2020

Alzheimer’s is a tough disease to contend with in the normal, everyday world. Some of the individuals suffering more than most during this time of crisis are those challenged with some form of dementia, especially those with Alzheimer’s. In our transition to a home-based model, we have taken steps to ensure that these individuals and their loved ones continue to get our support. The Record recently wrote a story on this topic here, and our own Executive Director Jillian Simon commented on how our changes provided continued support to this group.

To learn more about PACE services, click here.