FEB. 2, 2021 WASHINGTON, DC – The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), with their focus on keeping participants at home and in the community, are safer than nursing home care. The rate that PACE enrollees have contracted the virus or died as a result of it is one-third the rate of nursing home residents, according to the National PACE Association (NPA).
During the pandemic, the PACE model has demonstrated resiliency and increased future potential by continuing to provide all of the care and services necessary keep participants safe in the community. In response to COVID-19, PACE programs substantially and swiftly have transformed to continue to meet all of the care and service needs of their participants:
What Is PACE?
PACE is a wholly integrated, coordinated, person-centered, provider-led, capitated and fully risk-bearing model of care. Driven by the objective of maintaining the independence of program participants in their homes and communities for as long as possible, PACE programs are the lifelines that enable frail, older Americans to live at home instead of in a nursing facility. Most participants (95 percent) are able to continue to live in their home and community.
A total of 139 organizations operate PACE programs in 31 states across the country. More than 55,000 people are enrolled in PACE. Enrollees are age 55 and over and meet their state definition of needing nursing home care. PACE organizations serve approximately one in 10 of those that could benefit from their care in the community. Of the 2.2 million lower-income older adults estimated to need long-term services and supports (LTSS), PACE organizations serve just an estimated 2.5 percent.
PACE was proved safer and more cost-effective even prior to the pandemic:
Better care leads to lower costs:
PACE incorporates many of the reforms the Medicare program seeks to promote, including person-centered care that is delivered and coordinated by a provider-based, comprehensive system, with financial incentives aligned to promote quality and cost-effectiveness through capitated financing.
PACE provides care to older Americans in the home, which is their preferred environment. Eighty-six percent of people age 65 and over would prefer to remain in their home for as long as they can, according to an AARP survey.
In the coming years, PACE and other nursing home alternatives will be in great demand to meet the needs of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and others.