Improving health outcomes through post-acute care
Collective Conversations
Collective Conversations is a series of discussions aimed at highlighting people and groups working to improve health through better health care systems.
The majority of the large healthcare systems do not have an integrated post-acute care network (skilled nursing facilities, home health, assisted living facilities, adult family homes).
One of the challenges in why post-acute care is such a critical focus area for improving health outcomes is trying to integrate these systems and organizations into the hospitalized setting and within primary care.
As Medical Director of Post-Acute Care, Dr. Ong directs the clinical service - nurse practitioners and physicians that provide transitional care to people recently discharged from the hospital - and develops collaborations and partnerships with community organizations.
Some initiatives they have incorporated to improve access to care is to require those who want to be part of our network to accept Medicaid patients, who often have challenges in access to post-acute care services. They also helped Harborview Medical Center create the SPATCH program, which stands for Sponsoring Patient Access to Care at Home.
Dr. Thuan Ong is an associate professor in the Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine. His academic work reflects a commitment to improving care delivery to older adults and passion for teaching geriatric medicine to interprofessional clinicians. He has practiced and provided clinical leadership in the many nursing home environments, and practiced inpatient medicine and outpatient medicine at Harborview Medical Center since 2008.
Dr. Ong has developed intimate knowledge of these practice environments and worked collaboratively with interdisciplinary members of healthcare to meet the needs of geriatric patient populations. He manages UW Medicine’s fellowship training for geriatric and palliative care, and have served multiple leadership roles in the American Geriatric Society.
As the Medical Director of the UW Post-Acute Care (PAC) and the PAC Clinical Service, Dr. Ong has a broad background in leading development and implementation of policies and procedures to improve the clinical care received by patients discharging to skilled nursing facilities and throughout the care continuum.