Adventist, Eskaton team with new entrant in Sacramento to launch PACE elder care program

July 8, 2020

Adventist Health and Eskaton are teaming up with a Denver-based senior care provider to open a new adult day center that will be a one-stop shop connecting the aged and infirm to dentistry, medical specialists and a range of other services.

InnovAge, the Colorado care provider, has been expanding across the country, and Sacramento is the second city in California where the company is serving seniors. It also has a senior center in San Bernardino.

That site and the Sacramento location will be part of comprehensive senior care program that can be traced back to 1970s when descendants of San Francisco immigrants banded together to create a long-term care program for their aging elders.

That program, now known as PACE, was so successful at sustaining the well-being of seniors living alone that Congress later appropriated funds for its expansion around the nation. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reimburses providers for services they offer. 

Depending on the services, the team of providers working at a PACE center may include drivers, dietitians, nurses, occupational therapists and primary care doctors. In some cases, specialists may see patients at PACE centers, but drivers transport seniors if they need to make health-related trips.

“Right now, frail seniors and their families need us more than ever,” said InnovAge CEO and President Maureen Hewitt, in a prepared statement. “Our passion and mission at InnovAge is to provide services to the most vulnerable seniors to help them age in their own homes with dignity. We are excited to collaborate with Adventist Health and Eskaton to bring this new PACE program to seniors in the Sacramento area. 

The InnovAge PACE center is at 3870 Rosin Court in South Natomas, not far from Fry’s Electronics. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, seniors are not currently using the building, company officials said in a news release.

Sutter Health also has long operated a PACE center in the Sacramento region, opening an $11.6 million facility at 444 N. Third St. in Sacramento’s River District in 2018 to serve the region’s frailest residents.

Sutter Health officials said that its SeniorCare PACE has the distinction of being one of the first PACE — Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly — pilot “demonstration” programs in the United States. Authorized by CMS in the early 1990s, the program has served Sacramento residents for more than 25 years, and over the years, Sutter has expanded its service area to 55 zip codes to serve all of Sacramento County.

“We have…been able to quickly change from delivering services in PACE Centers to delivering them in participants’ homes amid the pandemic,” said Liz Madison, a Sutter Health spokesperson. “We have been able to shift to telehealth visits and in-person visits. Our teams help support increased grocery shopping, virtual recreation groups, as well as a social connections group.”