Illuminate HC has assumed management of nine former HCR ManorCare post-hospital care facilities in greater Detroit and Grand Rapids, marking the company’s first properties in the country and providing a launching pad for innovations designed to elevate the skilled care experience. The facilities, formerly operating under the Heartland name, will transition to the new SKLD brand and implement changes that maximize staff time spent with patients, provide faster and more flexible patient services, and attract top staff. As of August 1st, they assumed ownership of the former HCR ManorCare facility called Crestview in Wyoming, MI and the former Providence Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Zeeland, MI.

The management contract gives Illuminate HC an initial 1,197-bed portfolio spanning more than 1,500 employees in Bloomfield Hills, West Bloomfield, Zeeland, Livonia and Plymouth on the state’s east side and Grand Rapids, Ionia, Muskegon, Wyoming and Whitehall on the west. The company plans to invest more than $20 million in capital improvements, staff expansion, equipment and technology, and personnel strategies that will position Michigan as a role model for the modernization of post-acute care.

The first nine properties have been sold to new owners as part of the planned divestiture of HCR ManorCare facilities by Quality Care Properties Inc., that was announced earlier this year.

Rethinking Transitional Care

Illuminate HC’s innovations grew out of CEO Yair Zuckerman’s and President Harry Schayer’s commitment to raise the standard of care, forged over years in the industry in capacities ranging from facility administrator to operations executive. They formed Illuminate HC to carry out that commitment, in part through an in-house research and development lab that serves as both think tank and testing center for new ideas and solutions.

These efforts, along with a willingness to invest in the development and deployment of new methodologies specifically designed to address skilled care needs, have yielded a progressive new toolset not seen in other skilled care settings. Key advances that will be rolled out at SKLD (pronounced “skilled”) facilities include:

• A proprietary Illuminate HC logistics system that uses patent-pending software, wearable devices and a new staffing model to respond to patient call light requests in as little as 30 seconds, improve safety, and increase the amount of uninterrupted time that caregivers can spend with patients

• ‘Your day, your way’ patient scheduling that accommodates patient time preferences for therapy, meals and other personal needs

• An expanded care team with new positions that help optimize care, including SNFists (physicians specializing in skilled care), specialized nursing roles, and an on-staff pharmacist to provide an added layer of medication oversight

• Compensation and retention strategies designed to lift the status of skilled care as a profession

These changes will be implemented throughout the SKLD network, which provides short-term, transitional care and rehabilitation as well as long-term nursing care.

Responding to Changing Needs

“The economics of post-hospital care have shifted, but the delivery model is stuck in the 20th century. Change is needed to compete in an environment where patients in skilled care facilities have more complex needs, margins are shrinking, and performance improvements are increasingly important to boost facility reimbursement levels,” Zuckerman said. “Illuminate HC is built from the ground up to embrace and implement change. We’re focused on creating new solutions and standards that not only enhance the patient and staff experience but also improve patient outcomes and begin to redefine what a skilled care facility can be.”

That notably includes changing the employee culture by rethinking staffing and scheduling, enabling staff to spend more time with patients, and developing technology to assist in improving care delivery. The emphasis on improving both employee satisfaction and the caliber of the care team is so central to the company’s mission that the “HC” in the company name stands for human capital.

“Managing these nine properties is the first step in a broader plan to build a regional portfolio and to create a blueprint of fresh approaches to today’s clinical, regulatory, reimbursement and organizational pressures,” Schayer said. “We have seen the challenges firsthand and are grateful to be in a position to make changes that can help shape the future of skilled care.”

More information about SKLD is at www.skldcare.com.

For more information, visit https://illuminate-hc.com