Sunflower Health Plan Achieves 98 Percent LTSS Satisfaction Rate

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Apr 29, 2019, 07:00 ET

LENEXA, Kan., April 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Feedback from Sunflower Health Plan's members who receive long-term services and supports (LTSS) indicates their satisfaction with their overall care has increased.

A third-party research company conducted a survey of Sunflower's LTSS members in both 2017 and 2018. The latest results indicated 98.3 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the care they received from Sunflower in 2018, up from 97.3 percent in 2017.

"Sunflower's business model has always been, first, to respect our members and do what's right for them," said Michael Stephens, Sunflower Health Plan president and CEO. "We are pleased to see that our members are satisfied with our care staff and services."

The survey, conducted through SPH Analytics, was sent to more than 8,000 Sunflower members receiving home and community based services (HCBS). About one fourth responded.

Members answered questions about their care coordinators, feelings of being respected, quality of life, Sunflower transportation services and more. All total scores ranged between 82-99 percent. (Table below.)

Mike Oxford, executive director of Topeka Independent Living Center, said, "Objective measures of non-medical services that include social determinants of health, such as satisfaction with living arrangements, are part of the gold standard for quality in LTSS. Sunflower should be applauded for getting this right."

Oxford is also a member of Centene's National Disability Advisory Committee and Sunflower's local LTSS Advisory Committee.

"We share the survey results with our LTSS Advisory Committee and LTSS Quality Assurance Committee to collaborate on ways we can continue to improve," said Stephens.

Sunflower employs an array of interventions, recommended by its advisory and quality committees, to meet the specific needs of its members in LTSS. These include:

Transition Coordination: Sunflower offers enhanced transition services for persons moving from a nursing facility, focusing on safe and successful placements.
Transportation to Community Activities: Sunflower offers this value-added service to persons in certain HCBS waivers to help them engage more in their chosen community activities.
Person Centered Thinking and LifeCourse: Two Sunflower employees have recently become certified in person-centered thinking training, and one is participating in workgroups to further develop training for Charting the LifeCourse. These are two models of person-centered goal planning that Sunflower is implementing to better help members set goals that will improve their quality of life.

The survey questioned individuals in the following types of Medicaid LTSS services:

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Technology Assisted (TA)
Intellectually/Developmentally Disabled (IDD)
Physically Disabled (PD)
Frail and Elderly (FE)
Autism (AU)
Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED)
Working Opportunities Reward Kansans (WORK)

The term LTSS refers to a spectrum of community-based health and individualized living services that support elders or people with disabilities who need help with daily living tasks. The State of Kansas Medicaid agency contracts with Sunflower to provide assessment and coordination of services for members receiving LTSS, and medical and behavioral health services in the managed-care program named KanCare.

RESULTS SUMMARY:

Questions	Satisfaction
Questions	2018	2017
How satisfied are you with the help you receive from your Sunflower care manager? (Satisfied/Very Satisfied)	97.6%	95.6%
When you call your Sunflower care manager, do they respond within 1 business day? (Sometimes/Always)	95.5%	94.5%
Does your Sunflower care manager respect your personal beliefs and preferences during your discussions? (Sometimes/Always)	98.7%	98.2%
Has your Sunflower care manager talked with you about services that might meet your needs and goals? (Somewhat/Very Much)	89.5%	86.7%
Overall, how satisfied are you with the Home & Community Based Services you receive? (Satisfied/Very Satisfied)	96.1%	96.0%
Do the people who are paid to help you do things in the way you want them done? (Somewhat/Very Much)	97.3%	96.2%
How often do the people who are paid to help you treat you the way you want them to? (Sometimes/Always)	98.8%	98.3%
How often do you do things with your friends, your family or in your community? (Sometimes/Always)	82.3%	81.7%
If you scheduled transportation through Sunflower, how satisfied are you with the transportation service you received? (Satisfied/Very Satisfied)	91.3%	89.4%
Overall, how satisfied are you with the care you receive from Sunflower?	98.3%	97.3%

About Sunflower Health Plan – Sunflower Health Plan, a subsidiary of Centene Corporation, is a managed care organization established to deliver quality healthcare in the state of Kansas through local, regional and community-based resources. Sunflower is committed to improving the health of its beneficiaries through focused, compassionate and coordinated care in an approach based on the core belief that quality healthcare is best delivered locally. For more information, please visit www.sunflowerhealthplan.com.

SOURCE Sunflower Health Plan