Regional Collaborative Aims to Smooth Postacute Care Transitions

​"The overriding goal of PATH is to improve the quality of patient care and patient satisfaction while generating operational efficiencies and cost savings throughout the post-acute health care process," says Saul Blair, the initial organizer of Post Acute Transitional Healthcare (PATH), as quoted in an article in the September 2014 Caring for the Ages. Reducing hospital readmission rates was an early goal and remains important for the regional collaborative. The 50-plus organizations involved include a hospitalist physician group (Blair is executive director of the Phoenix practice), hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, assisted-living facilities, home health agencies, hospice providers, behavioral health organizations, and managed care organizations.