Thank you for Subscribing to Eldercare Review Weekly Brief
Dave Soltau, Owner and FounderHome healthcare is pivotal to decreasing care costs, improving health outcomes, and reducing hospital stays for patients. Personalized home healthcare takes into account patients’ circumstances and conditions to provide them with better services and a positive experience for rapid recovery.
While many organizations are capable of creating a congenial home healthcare setting for their patients, very few can match the impressive track record of Advanced Clinical Associates (ACA). Headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, ACA is a recognized leader in providing exceptional home healthcare to help patients adjust to their new medical conditions as complex as spinal cord injuries, often considered incurable.
A case in point is a quadriplegic man who sustained acute C1 and C2 vertebrae fractures at work. The patient required around-the-clock palliative and clinical care to adjust to his new life.
ACA was cognizant that adjusting to conditions such as spinal cord injuries is an emotional healing process that may take years. This can disrupt the patient flow in hospitals and lead to poor patient experiences.
For the quadriplegic patient, ACA assembled an expert team of home healthcare specialists to look after the patient around-the-clock in the comfort and safety of his home.
Seven years later, the patient’s determination and ACA’s hard work paid off; he was able to live a full life in a wheel chair without having to spend time in a care facility. With a dramatic improvement in health, he outlived the two-year life expectancy predicted by doctors. He was able to travel around the state of Arizona, and live a fulfilling life by every definition. While his willpower was at the center of this transformation, ACA’s ardent passion and a steadfast commitment to delivering personalized home healthcare for every situation was vital to making his recovery possible. This is but one instance of ACA’s dexterity in managing highly complex and catastrophic patient recoveries in a home setting.
Driven by a mission to transform the delivery of home healthcare for veterans, rehabilitating seniors, ailing children, and people with disabilities, ACA offers a truly comprehensive, custom, and connected system of personalized care.
I describe ACA as a well-oiled machine, highly tuned for progress and growth
The Beginning Chapters
The evolution of ACA as a leader in providing holistic home healthcare services is powered by the business acumen and thought leadership of Soltau. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in nursing, Soltau served as a U.S. Army Nurse Corps officer. Later, drawing on his years of clinical and sales experience, Soltau and a business partner formed a nurse staffing company. The duo was quick to recognize that certain patients in a hospital setting would recover faster if provided with healthcare at home. This very idea manifested as the cornerstone of ACA in 2007.
In the first few years, they reached out to insurance companies to advocate for the cost benefits of at-home healthcare and identified ways to put together a strong team of expert clinicians and caregivers. After obtaining licensing, ACA and its expert team began delivering superior home healthcare services by leveraging digital technologies while ensuring savings for insurers––creating a win-win situation. Today, ACA has established a strong reputation in Phoenix as one of the largest Medicare-certified home healthcare agencies.
The Nexus of ACA’s Strength
ACA is capable of addressing even the most complex needs and managing a large volume of patients, which most home healthcare providers cannot do. The company delivers customized home healthcare to patients through a hassle-free process with a customer-centric mindset.
Once discharged from hospitals, patients are referred to ACA by case managers, describing the level of acuity for at-home service. ACA sends a registered nurse (RN) who completes an extensive comprehensive assessment as prescribed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The RN analyzes the patient’s health, medical history, and current diagnosis to determine what care is needed to prevent hospital readmission.
The ACA then sends dedicated clinical providers who look after patients and advise them on various factors for improving health conditions. For instance, if a non-compliant diabetic suffers a fall, the ACA team educates the patient on how to avoid future falls and supports them with appropriate medical equipment. The team even suggests necessary home renovations to create a safer environment for the patient. These measures, combined with symptom reduction and root cause analysis, lead to better patient experience and outcomes.
ACA’s competitive edge is sharpened by its ability to bill for all major insurers in Arizona, including The Division of Developmental Disabilities, AHCCCS, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, and UnitedHealthcare. ACA also prides itself on its longstanding relationship with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Phoenix, managing more than 300 patients in their system. VA is one of the largest integrated healthcare networks in the U.S, with 1,255 healthcare facilities serving nine million enrolled veterans annually.
ACA has also built enduring relationships with case management groups over the last 15 years and has been growing organically through word-of-mouth recommendations.
A Culture Steeped in Excellence
ACA’s potential to troubleshoot any clinical situation is due in large part to its incredible workforce with decades of combined industry experience. With a “mission first, people always” mentality, the company operates in its team’s best interest, emphasizing that happy, well-managed employees are the key to business success.
“I describe ACA as a well-oiled machine, highly tuned for progress and growth. We boast a work culture where employees can excel in their roles and exceed patients’ expectations. Every manager at ACA leads the team with sound decisiveness,” states Soltau.
ACA hires qualified, highly experienced RNs, licensed practical nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, CNAs, acupuncturists, and respiratory therapists. At the same time, as an educating firm, the organization onboards beginners with an appetite for knowledge and trains them meticulously. Driven by a team of exceptionally talented clinicians, ACA fosters a winning, positive culture that reflects on its relentless pursuit of excellence.
Tapping into the caliber of its team, ACA continued to deliver its services even at the peak of the pandemic. During the COVID-19 outbreak, a large volume of non-COVID patients recuperating in hospitals were abruptly discharged due to an acute scarcity of beds. Faced with a gap in healthcare delivery, patients were referred to at-home healthcare options, which were inadequate for their needs. Often, their cases were more complex and required a higher level of attention. ACA rose to this challenge, hiring a large number of highly experienced clinicians with a focus on geriatrics to treat these patients in a home setting without compromising quality.
Striding Toward a Promising Future
ACA’s journey over the years has been nothing short of inspirational. The company has been in business for over 15 years, pushing new boundaries with unabated vigor. With around 70 experienced clinicians currently managing close to 40,000 clinical visits a year, ACA aims to expand its employee base to over a hundred clinicians.
Going forward, ACA plans to maintain its position as a leader by helping patients effortlessly gain access to quality healthcare. “The future of home healthcare is booming. Everybody is keen on outperforming their competition, but as long as we’re enjoying the process and making a difference, we will continue to be the best home healthcare provider in Arizona,” notes Soltau.
