Ryan House, a nonprofit that provides respite care, therapy, pediatric palliative care and end-of-life care to children, partnered with ASU in a study to show its services are eligible for insurance reimbursement.
Currently, Ryan House is completely funded by donations. The university is collecting data from Ryan House to prove it operates under a cost effective model in order to get reimbursements, said Taylor More, marketing director at Ryan House.
“If we do get reimbursement, which we are working on, it will make us more sustainable and replicable. At the moment the model is hard to replicate with zero help from the government,” More said.
Ryan House opened in 2010, and is dedicated to not only caring for children, but also giving them an experience they won’t find in other places.
ASU is collecting patient demographic data, what types of services they utilized, the value of those services as well as whether or not a stay at Ryan House helped the child avoid any hospitalizations, said Adrienne White, the head faculty mentor at ASU who is overseeing the graduate students conducting the research.
Ryan House will use this information to track and understand the quality and results of their programs. The information collected will then be gathered together to present to insurance companies for possible reimbursement, White said.
Even though Ryan House is looking for a reimbursement change, there will not be a change in the way it services the families and children.
Children and their families are able to stay for up to 28 days a year for respite care at Ryan House, and the service will continue if the nonprofit becomes eligible for reimbursements.
There are 13 different rooms devoted to the family and children, which include: the memorial garden, sensory room, arts and crafts room, hydrotherapy pool, music room, multimedia Room, family suites and more.
Ryan House isn’t just helping out the children, but the parents also, More noted. Parents who are looking for time for themselves utilize the Ryan House.
“The divorce rate for families with special needs children is 90 percent,” More said. “We call it the ‘gift of time,’ these moms never get to sleep through the night, and it makes you crazy, then it puts a strain on your relationship, so being able to drop your kid off and get sleep for three days is so important.”
