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Minnesota
Mayo Clinic and Select Medical to Form Allevant Solutions
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Mechanicsburg, PA — Mayo Clinic and Select Medical today announced the formation of a new company designed to improve medical care — specifically post-acute care — in rural America.
The joint venture, called Allevant Solutions, LLC, will offer consulting services to rural hospitals and skilled nursing homes. The consulting services include methodologies, algorithms and processes which incorporate clinical services, quality improvement and business expertise developed by Mayo and Select Medical. Through these services, Allevant will enable its clients to increase the availability of post-acute care and also reduce the costs associated with providing the rehabilitative services that many patients need even after they have overcome a life-threatening illness or accident.
Rural residents are chronically underserved. This is particularly true for those who leave tertiary acute care hospitals but still need high quality post-acute medical care. Allevant Solutions will fill the need to bring high quality transitional care to medically complex patients in rural markets.
The concept is based on a highly successful transitional care and ventilator program by Mayo Clinic Health System that included 11 hospitals in rural America. The program was initiated by pulmonologist Mark Lindsay, M.D., who led a team that systematically filled a desperate need for high quality post-acute care outside metropolitan areas. This work became the major inspiration for Allevant Solutions.
Mayo Clinic's transitional care model to date has had a side effect that Allevant Solutions hopes to replicate: to create and protect health-services jobs in rural regions. The more facilities that Allevant Solutions can assist, the more nurses, physicians and other health care workers have a chance to get and keep jobs, which are increasingly scarce in rural America.
'Skilled nursing facilities and rural hospitals are rarely equipped with the resources needed to provide optimal post-acute care for ventilator-dependent or other complex patients," said Dr. Lindsay. "As a result, medically complex patients in many rural areas have to either settle for less-than-ideal settings or travel great distances. To address this, we chose to work with Select Medical because of its complementary expertise in post-acute care and its built-in, national network of long-term acute care hospitals."
"Our health care colleagues in rural areas fulfill a vital role, but they need to prepare for the future," said Thomas Buckingham, executive vice president for Select Medical. "As the nation's population ages, rural treatment facilities will also need to admit an increasing number of patients with medically complex conditions. Allevant Solutions will help them put in place the resources necessary to meet the needs of their communities."
"By combining Mayo Clinic's formidable know-how with Select Medical's business and clinical expertise, Allevant will be well-positioned to help health care executives make their facilities first class," said David S. Chernow, president and chief administrative officer for Select Medical. "Together, we will assist our health care colleagues to lower costs, increase access to medical care and achieve the best possible outcomes for severely ill patients in rural America."
Allevant Solutions plans to help rural hospitals and other, similar facilities improve both management and clinical practices to ensure patient access to high-quality, evidence-based care. In doing so, Allevant intends to help prevent hospital closures as well as become a catalyst for such facilities to renew their focus as local, reliable sources of employment.
Mayo Clinic and Dr. Mark Lindsay have a financial interest in the technology referenced in this news release. Revenue Mayo receives will be used to advance patient care, education and research.
About Select Medical
Select Medical helps improve quality of life for approximately 30,000 patients in a typical day, making it one of the nation's largest providers of specialized acute and post-acute care. Select Medical's network of 30,000 employees operate or support 110 hospitals specializing in long-term acute care, 12 medical rehabilitation hospitals, and approximately 965 outpatient clinics offering physical and occupational therapy. Select Medical also provides contract therapy services at more than 500 sites and physical therapy and/or athletic training to approximately 300 high schools, colleges, and professional teams nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.selectmedical.com/.
