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Kindred Issues 2017 Quality, Innovation and Social Responsibility Report

New Report Highlights Kindred’s Innovative Post-Acute Care Solutions to Advance Value-Based Care and Payment

Kindred Continues to Achieve High Clinical and Quality Outcomes Across All Service Lines

Kindred’s Social Responsibility Includes Support in Communities Nationwide

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2017-- Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (“Kindred” or the “Company”) (NYSE:KND) today released its Quality, Innovation and Social Responsibility Report that highlights how Kindred has leveraged innovation and service delivery to transform its capabilities around a post-acute solution that advances a growing need for value-based care.

The report details how Kindred is shaping the future of care for an aging America. Kindred has become both a provider of quality post-acute care and a manager of post-acute benefits by deploying a variety of products and services designed to improve quality, outcomes and the customer experience while lowering the total cost of care. The report is available at www.kindredhealthcare.com/about-us/quality.

“For more than a decade Kindred has highlighted the accomplishments of our 100,000 caregivers and teammates in providing high-quality care to the more than 1,000,000 patients and families we serve annually,” said Benjamin A. Breier , Kindred’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our clinical outcomes continued to improve and outpace national benchmarks. Importantly, our programs enable patients to move seamlessly from hospital to home, and our focus on wellness and rehabilitation improves the lives of the patients and families we serve.”

Clinical Excellence

Home HealthIn 2016, more than 91% of Kindred at Home’s home health locations had three or more stars for quality of patient care in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (“CMS”) 5-Star Rating System, which recognizes the highest quality care. In 2016, 139 of Kindred at Home’s home health locations were named to the HomeCare Elite® list, which identifies the nation’s top 25% of Medicare-certified agencies.

Hospice – In 2016, Kindred’s hospice services outperformed national benchmarks in nearly all quality measures.

Community Care – In 2016, the Company’s Personal Home Care Assistance locations significantly outperformed national benchmarks in client satisfaction.

Rehabilitation Services – In 2016, Kindred Rehabilitation Services delivered therapy to more than 501,000 patients, aiding in their recovery and return home.

  • Kindred’s freestanding Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospitals (“IRFs”) and hospital-based acute rehabilitation units outperformed national benchmarks in lower rehospitalization rates and in successfully discharging more patients to home or community settings.
  • Fifteen of 18 qualifying Kindred IRFs finished in the top 25th percentile of Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation’s Program Evaluation Model, which recognizes high-performing IRFs for their delivery of quality patient care. (Kindred’s 19th IRF began operations in October 2016 and did not qualify.)
  • At discharge from RehabCare services, patients regained 83.1% of the function that they had prior to injury or illness that necessitated the therapy services. RehabCare therapists significantly improved patients’ functional outcome measures in Kindred and unaffiliated nursing centers.

Transitional Care Hospitals – In 2016, Kindred Transitional Care Hospitals treated the most seriously ill and medically complex patients, discharging more than 74% of patients home or to a lower acuity setting, an increase of 7.2% compared with 2012. The ventilator wean rate for Kindred patients was 49.8%, an increase of 5.3% from 2012.

Solutions and Innovations

Accountable Care Organizations (“ACOs”) In August 2016, CMS announced that the Silver State ACO, of which Kindred is a strategic owner and partner, was among only 22% of the nation’s Medicare Shared Savings ACOs that generated savings for the 2015 performance year. Kindred has also developed strategic partnerships to deliver integrated post-acute care with numerous other ACOs throughout the nation, including Next Generation ACOs.

1.866.KINDRED: 24/7 Direct Consumer Assistance by Registered Nurses – Kindred offers a toll-free resource (1.866.KINDRED), in which calls are answered 24/7 by Registered Nurses who can help identify the best and most convenient care options to meet a patient’s needs after a hospital stay – even if it’s not with Kindred. Our goal is to be a trusted consumer resource as our nurses answer questions about insurance or Medicare coverage, discuss medical conditions and detail the care options available to consumers in their local community.

AfterCare Kindred’s AfterCare Program is designed to maintain personal, consistent and compassionate communication with patients after they are discharged. Trained nurses call patients at regular intervals post-discharge to track patient progress, answer ongoing questions, identify any new care needs and ensure a positive patient experience.

Physician House Calls – Kindred House Calls brings high-quality, physician-based house call services to homebound patients who are at high risk for hospitalization and cannot easily access traditional outpatient services. Through tailored medical care, Kindred House Calls is delivering improved clinical outcomes, preventing emergency room visits and hospital stays, and creating positive patient experiences.

Collaborations and Partnerships

The Power of Partnerships in Improving Population Health As part of Kindred’s response to the evolving healthcare environment, the Company is building robust alliances to support effective care coordination across an entire patient episode. Strong partnerships, joint venture agreements and clinical collaborations position Kindred to deliver the comprehensive post-acute care solution that hospitals, health systems and payors are demanding.

  • Genesis Kindred is developing relationships with unaffiliated nursing centers to establish local comprehensive post-acute networks for patients. As an example, Kindred recently engaged in a strategic clinical collaboration with Genesis HealthCare (NYSE:GEN). This collaboration complements Kindred’s existing platform of post-acute services with unaffiliated nursing centers to better Continue the Care in local communities. Within this new relationship, Genesis and Kindred will collaborate to develop and implement initiatives across the healthcare continuum, with the specific goals of improving quality care, patient safety, efficiency and availability of healthcare services in the community.
  • Inpatient Rehabilitation Joint Venture – Most of Kindred’s IRFs are operated as joint ventures with some of the nation’s leading health systems to drive efficiencies and clinical integration. As an example, Lancaster General Hospital, a 533-bed hospital in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, opened a 50-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in 2007 as a joint venture partnership with Centerre Healthcare Corporation (which Kindred acquired in January 2015). Lancaster General provides the clinical services, and Kindred handles the administration and management. Since opening, Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital has expanded to 59 beds and has outperformed the national average on nearly every major clinical quality and outcome metric. Additionally, the joint venture operation has enhanced the hospital’s financial performance and improved patient satisfaction scores from 90% to 98%.
  • Home Health Solutions for ACOs – Kindred at Home provides cost-effective care solutions for ACOs nationwide. In the Phoenix market, Kindred at Home established a strategic relationship with a Pioneer ACO serving more than 400,000 individuals across Arizona. Kindred participated in a preferred home health network, assuming financial risk based on well-defined patient satisfaction and quality measures. Participating Kindred at Home branches consistently achieved targets for overall patient satisfaction, likelihood to recommend and percent reduction in the hospital readmission rate.

About Kindred Healthcare

Kindred Healthcare, Inc., a top-90 private employer in the United States, is a FORTUNE 500 healthcare services company based in Louisville, Kentucky with annual revenues of approximately $7.2 billion. At December 31, 2016, Kindred through its subsidiaries had approximately 100,100 employees providing healthcare services in 2,654 locations in 46 states, including 82 long-term acute care hospitals, 19 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, 91 nursing centers, 17 sub-acute units, 635 Kindred at Home home health, hospice and non-medical home care sites of service, 102 inpatient rehabilitation units (hospital-based) and contract rehabilitation service businesses which served 1,708 non-affiliated sites of service. Ranked as one of Fortune magazine’s Most Admired Healthcare Companies for eight years, Kindred’s mission is to promote healing, provide hope, preserve dignity and produce value for each patient, resident, family member, customer, employee and shareholder we serve. For more information, go to www.kindredhealthcare.com. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook

Source: Kindred Healthcare, Inc.

Kindred Healthcare, Inc.
Susan E. Moss, 502-596-7296
Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications