Genesis HealthCare and Kindred Healthcare, Inc. announced a strategic clinical collaboration to improve quality, outcomes and care transitions across the post-acute continuum. This clinical collaboration brings together Genesis as the nation’s top skilled nursing facility provider and Kindred as one of the leading providers of rehabilitation and post-acute care in the United States with services that include home health, hospice, long-term acute care (LTAC) hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and contract rehabilitation in acute and skilled facilities. Genesis and Kindred will collaborate in order to develop and implement healthcare initiatives across the healthcare continuum with the specific goals to improve quality care, patient safety, efficiency and availability of healthcare services in the community. The collaboration will utilize the clinical expertise of both entities to align patient care across the continuum, but it does not limit each company’s relationships with other providers. A high priority will be placed on timely, efficient and safe care transitions for patients across post-acute care settings. The new relationship will include comprehensive data tracking and analysis on discharges, readmissions, length of stay, and other key quality and episode of care statistical information in order to develop evidence-based clinical protocols, quality standards and benchmarks to benefit patients. Genesis and Kindred also plan to work together to: Promote physician collaboration and integration to improve patient outcomes and the patient experience across the continuum of care; Support the development of post-acute care networks based on assessments of different patient populations and services in order to better meet evolving patient needs in the community; Identify ways to improve care and outcomes for specific patient populations, including sharing data, developing shared protocols and establishing best practices to care for these patients, in compliance with all applicable laws, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; Identify ways to better understand population health and track patients’ episodes of care post-discharge, through improved information technology capabilities or otherwise; and develop processes, guidelines and tools for post-acute care discharge planning and care transitions for patients and their families.