Understanding the business side of PACE, part 1: the National PACE Association develops new financial planning tools for would-be developers - Feature Article - Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly is known for high-quality clinical outcomes of its enrollees

Nursing Homes, April, 2003 by Jade Gong, Robert Greenwood

One of the goals of the PACE model is to provide a seamless healthcare delivery system to serve older adults with chronic care needs. Much of the delivery of care and services to PACE enrollees is centered around the PACE adult day health center. A health clinic, doctors' offices, physical therapy and occupational therapy facilities, and other services are all located at the adult day health center.

While a person is eligible to enroll in PACE when he/she is age 55 or older, is certified by the state to need nursing home care, is able to safely live in the community at the time of enrollment, and lives in an area served by a PACE program, actual PACE enrollees look very similar to persons entering nursing homes. For example, the typical PACE enrollee is 79 years old, and about half have a diagnosis of dementia.

For more information about PACE, visit www.NPAonline.org.

Jade Gong, MBA, BSN, is a senior advisor to the Health Dimensions Group, a PACE TAC, based in Arlington, Virginia. Phone (703) 243-4202 or e-mail j.gong@worldnet.att.net. Robert Greenwood is vice-president of public affairs for the National PACE Association, Alexandria, Virginia. Phone (703) 535-1522 or e-mail robertg@npaonline.org. To comment on this article, please send e-mail to gong0403@nursinghomesmagazine. cam.

Part 2, to be presented in a later issue, will describe 10 key "lessons learned" from an analysis of the financial data from two PACE organizations.