PACE KC, the comprehensive Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, will start enrolling its first eligible participants in the first quarter of 2024 from its recently completed facility at 4141 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
The $15 million, 34,000-square-foot PACE KC Adult Wellness Center is the latest investment in the massive Mt. Cleveland Initiative which has seen, between the investment of Swope Health in PACE and Community Builders of Kansas City (CBKC) in The Rochester, more than $30 million in completed development in just the last two years.
“Swope Health continues to innovate as they further the quality of and access to critical health care services to our community,” said Emmet Pierson, Jr., president and CEO of CBKC. “PACE KC is a game-changing addition to what we have been working to develop for the last 30 years – a walkable campus of essential and complementary services that measurably improve the quality of life of those we serve.”
PACE provides what all of us want for our fragile elders in health care – a team of health care professionals who coordinate all aspects of care and provides the entire continuum medical care and long-term services and supports including:
- primary and specialty medical care; in-home services;
- prescription drugs;
- specialty care such as audiology, dentistry, optometry, podiatry and speech therapy;
- respite care;
- transportation; adult day services, including nursing, meals, nutritional counseling, social work, personal care and physical, occupational and recreational therapies;
- hospital and nursing home care, when necessary; and
- any other services or supports that are medically necessary to maintain or improve the health status of PACE program participants.
Older Adults can join the PACE KC program if they meet these guidelines:
- They are 55 years of age or older.
- Live in Jackson County, Missouri.
- Are certified by the state of Missouri as meeting the need for nursing home-level care.
- Can live safely in the community with the help of PACE programs at the time of joining.
Heath Rath, PACE KC executive director, said PACE is a highly individualized, high-touch program designed to help participants continue living at home with access to every medically necessary care and service, even those not covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
“PACE has not only proved to result in better health status for participants, but it also offers supports for care givers, has been shown to deliver cost savings to states’ Medicare programs and is especially attractive to health care professionals,” he added. “With PACE, they get to provide healthcare in the way they feel is best.”
The PACE KC Adult Wellness Center is the home for the PACE KC interdisciplinary care team and houses not just clinical spaces but also serves as a place where participants can socialize while using the day center, rehab gym, computer lab, library, arts and crafts room, bathing suite, low stimulation memory care area and outdoor recreation space.
And it is not just this state-of-the-art building and its people that will impact the life of participants.
“This whole campus acts as a continuum of care,” said Rath. “There is massive value just in having the Sun Fresh grocery store next door. Our care aides can take participants and shop. Our dietician can give lessons in healthy eating habits as they walk through the store and there are more social service organizations they can access that have offices in the CBKC headquarters building adjacent to us. Most of our enrollees are homebound. All these resources go a long way in getting needs met while reducing social isolation.”
There are currently 155 active PACE programs with 75,000 beneficiaries in the U.S. Rath said he anticipates the KC program serving 350 enrollees within five years, creating 90 jobs in the process.