Catholic Health World

Catholic systems among first in a decade to start new N.Y. PACE programs

After about 10 years with no new Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly starting in New York — a time when the PACE network was expanding in other states — the Empire State last year enabled three such programs to open. Two of the programs are offered by Catholic health care providers: Senior Life from ArchCare of New York City and Living Independently for Elders, or LIFE, from the Catholic Health System of Buffalo.

These PACE programs will allow frail, low-income seniors "to continue living in the community with the help of services and support from the PACE team," said Kathryn McGuire, senior vice president of community and managed care services for ArchCare, the division of the Archdiocese of New York that provides continuing care services including nursing home care and rehabilitation. ArchCare began offering its Senior Life PACE program in November.

PACE helps qualified, medically frail clients aged 55 and older to access the services they need to live independently in the community rather than moving into a long-term care facility. The services normally include outpatient health care, adult day care, physical therapy, nutritional counseling, recreation, home care, medication help, social services and respite care. Most PACE clients are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare. Private sector facilities administer the program, and the states and federal government regulate it.

Currently, there are more than 70 PACE programs in 31 states, and the majority of those programs have sprouted up in the past decade, according to information from the National PACE Association.

Four PACE programs opened in New York in the 1990s but then expansion activity halted. McGuire, who is chair-elect of the National PACE Association, explained that the state health department had mistakenly believed that PACE saved the federal Medicare program money but did not save the state money through the Medicaid program. So the state health department shifted its attention away from the PACE program, which had the effect of discouraging new applicants. Over time, organizations supporting PACE proved they were committed to the PACE model and that the model had the best staying power, as compared to other approaches the state was exploring, explained McGuire. This brought about what McGuire calls a "renaissance of sorts" for PACE in New York.

Now, McGuire said, Senior Life is able to "further the mission of ArchCare by providing a proven model of care and financing for frail seniors to remain in the community." The hub of Senior Life is at a former grocery store that has been transformed into a day center.

Catholic Health's LIFE also opened in November. Its center is located at a campus that once included a hospital and now operates as a continuum of care complex with senior apartments and a nursing facility. Thomas Schifferli, executive director of the LIFE program, said the new program is a boon to Western New York, particularly since that area has one of the nation's quickest growing populations of people over age 80 and since it has a high level of poverty.

He noted that with PACE not only do elders get coordinated health and social support services, payers save money since clients can avoid or delay the need to receive more costly nursing home care.

With the state encouraging PACE expansion once again, other care providers — Seton Health of Troy, N.Y., and the Diocese of Albany, N.Y., among them — are looking into their own offerings.

Schifferli of Catholic Health said that PACE clearly aligns with Catholic health care's purpose. "Our mission is to reflect the healing power of Jesus, and this certainly is a population that benefits from those powers of healing."

Copyright © 2010 by the Catholic Health Association of the United States
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