The benefits of specialization can extend beyond volume generation and partnerships within thetraditional bounds of an acute/post-acute relationship. A strong specialty can also open the door tonew business opportunities.

In select cases, the opportunity to extend a specialty is not limited to a new sector or care setting, butalso includes an opportunity to reach new patient types.

Continue reading to learn how one rehabilitation provider filled downstream gaps to reach new patient types. For more tactics to build and support specialty lines, download our research report excerpt: 10 Tactics to Ensure Specialty Return on Investment, Part 3.

Download the research report

Transitional Learning Center (TLC) is a rehabilitation provider specializing exclusively in traumaticbrain injury. Upon initial assessment, patients are segmented into one of four care pathways. Two pathways areaimed at returning patients to the community, and the other two intended to help more severely injured patientsachieve basic physical skills.

Following discharge, the more severely injured patients frequently sought additional support fromTLC, as they were unable to find specialized long-term care. TLC, however, offered only short-termrehabilitation—failing to meet some patient needs and capitalize on an opportunity forprogrammatic growth.

Blog post: How to harness spillover volumes from your most successful specialty

Following a due diligence process, TLC expanded their specialty into a new care type: assisted living.They opened the Tideway facility specifically for the patients who, even after rehabilitation, wouldnever live independently again.

In addition to moving into the long-term care space, Tideway allowed TLC to access patients theypreviously would not have seen—patients with traumatic brain injuries dependent on support for activities of daily living(ADLs), but who were not in need of intensive rehabilitation. Although many of Tideway’s residentspreviously received rehabilitation services from TLC, Tideway also receives residents from otherrehabilitation facilities.

Conversation guide: Sample talking points to win over a potential hospital partner

TLC maintained not only their specialized staffing but also their community-focused care model atTideway. While residents at Tideway are expected to live out the remainder of their lives within thefacility, TLC provides many opportunities for residents to participate as fully as possible with activitiesin the community.

For more tactics to build and support specialty lines, download our research report excerpt: 10 Tactics to Ensure Returnon Specialty Investments, Part 3

Download the research report