Care doesn’t stop between visits.

Definition

CARE Proper noun

CARE is a network of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology practices that agree to two things: deliver a common model of structured patient engagement between visits, and report a common set of episode and outcome measures to the network.

CARE does not acquire practices, employ clinicians, or direct clinical decision-making. Member practices remain independently owned and independently operated.

Clinically integrated network Also: CIN

A group of rehab practices that collaborate through defined programs, shared measurement, shared standards, and shared accountability, to improve the quality and efficiency of the care they deliver. Consistent with long-standing FTC/DOJ analysis of clinical integration, collaboration of sufficient substance allows the participating practices to contract with payers jointly while continuing to operate, and to compete, as independent businesses.

Clinical integration is not a label a network can assign itself. It has to be built, documented, and demonstrated. That is the work CARE is built around: a documented Clinical Integration Plan, adopted standards, and network-wide measurement.

The premise

A patient who stays connected to their care team between visits does better, at lower total cost, than a patient who waits for the next appointment.

The evidence for that is substantial, and it spans the remote care code families as well as the broader digital health literature. What doesn’t exist is a standard for excellence.

No one has defined what between-visit connectivity actually means in rehabilitation: what is delivered, at what cadence, reviewed by whom, documented how, and measured against what. Adoption is uneven, quality is unverifiable, and the resulting data can’t be compared across practices.

Standardizing that connectivity, and measuring it consistently across a network of practices, is what CARE exists to do.

How it works

One engagement model. One measurement set.

What stays with you

Clinical judgment

CARE sets no screening criteria, no escalation rules, and no treatment protocols. Clinical reasoning, patient safety practice, and treatment decisions remain with the treating therapist and the member practice, governed by licensure and standard of care. The network measures; it does not diagnose or direct.

What membership involves

1. Adopt the modelDeliver Connected Care to enrolled patients, and use the resulting information at the next follow-up visit.
2. Submit dataA baseline data submission at intake, as a condition of membership, then monthly submissions thereafter. Manual submission is acceptable; no EMR integration is required to participate.
3. Meet the standardsOperate at or above the standards in the Clinical Integration Plan. Practices may exceed them; they may not fall below them.
4. Accept accountabilityCompliance is assessed at the practice level. Where a gap appears, CARE supplies the data, identifies it, and provides the education. The practice owns the remediation plan and the training.
5. Clinical committeeA standing clinical committee of three to five members guides the Plan and its annual review. Seats are offered at the network’s discretion and carry defined terms; membership in CARE does not include a committee seat.

Why a network, and not just software

The single largest obstacle to between-visit care in rehabilitation is not clinician willingness or technology. It is coverage. Many payers still do not cover the remote care codes that make this model sustainable for an independent practice, and no individual practice can generate the evidence to change that on its own.

A network that can demonstrate genuine clinical integration, a documented model, consistent adoption, measured outcomes across many practices, can engage payers on coverage of these codes in a way that no single practice can. Coverage is what makes adoption possible. It is a precondition for the model, not a product CARE sells.