OSF Healthcare will roll out a new care solution for Tri-County seniors later this month.
After a lengthy preparation process, OSF has been awarded a contract from the state of Illinois and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to offer Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). The program serves as an alternative sort of insurance plan for elders who have “slipped through the cracks” of traditional senior care infrastructure.
Director Nathan Pritzker says PACE is an initiative originally piloted in California in the 1970’s.
“Since then it has taken a gradual track across the country, to some 30 different states, and really exploded in growth post-COVID as a tool to serve populations in a different way,” he said. “And in what, I think, is a better way than the existing infrastructure. Again, for that small number of people who have just reached a point in their journey where they need some extra help.”
Pritzker says PACE functions by having decisions about care be made by an elder’s dedicated care team, rather than an insurance company. The range of potential services are wide, including occupational therapy, physical therapy, transportation services and in-home assistive care. There’s also a network of partners for broader services like dialysis, dentistry and more.
Notably, this program is for seniors older than 55, who do meet nursing home residency criteria, but are living independently.
“PACE is really not a solution for everything, everyone, I don’t want to promise that,” Pritzker said. “But it is a great solution for a small set of people who need something a little different.”
When the program launches on June 1, it will be the first in the state outside of Chicago. The program is headquartered in the OSF Senior World facility on North William Kumpf Boulevard, where OSF will also continue to offer adult day care services separately from PACE.
“Individuals can enroll on the first of the month, effective the first of the month, on any month,” Pritzker said. “So there’s no open enrollment period or any of that kind of stuff people need to wait for, as long as they're eligible.”
Elders don’t necessarily need to be on Medicare or Medicaid for this service, there are out-of-pocket payment methods as well.
For now, enrollment is only for residents in Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford Counties, as well as a small part of Mason County near Pekin.
OSF has an enrollment number at (833) 401-1679 and more information available here.
