Five Questions With: Dr. Nicholas Nikolopoulos

Dr. Nicholas Nikolopoulos recently joined PACE Organization of Rhode Island as its new chief medical officer. In this role, he will serve as a member of the PACE-RI executive management team, while providing medical direction and supervision of primary care and allied health services and overseeing quality improvement. He discusses his new role, his background and what’s driving PACE-RI’s growth.

PBN: As new chief medical officer, what will your day-to-day look like?

NIKOLOPOULOS: Each day is quite busy because of the chronically ill seniors we serve and because we are still in the age of COVID-19. I have a dual role here at PACE – both to ensure the highest quality of care for our participants and to help promote PACE by expanding our relationships in the local medical community.

On the participant front, that directive translates into continuously evaluating, assessing and improving the way we meet our participants’ evolving needs. One day I might need to adjust COVID protocols to meet changing guidelines. I could be discussing health policy with PACE provider colleagues around the country or running our interdisciplinary team to address a participant’s crisis situation. On a particularly busy day, you might see me stepping in and helping our providers by seeing a patient in our clinic or even doing a home visit.

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I am also responsible for overseeing our relationships with medical-related providers, specialists, hospitals and other health care providers. That could mean administering a medical school research project here at PACE, offering a lunch and learn session at a group medical practice, or attending a meeting at EOHHS [R.I. Executive Office of Health and Human Services] on elder care best practices.

Regardless of the task, I am driven by the mission of this organization to help elders with chronic health needs remain healthy and living at home.

PBN: As you settle into the role, what are some of your top priorities for the upcoming year?

NIKOLOPOULOS: PACE is a gem in the field of elder care. We just need to raise awareness about the breadth and depth of our services so that more people can benefit from the care we provide. I hope to increase our base of participants with outreach and education programs targeted at physician and hospitalist groups. I am certain that once people know about us, they’ll refer participants to PACE.

We take resource-intensive patient referrals from overworked physicians and provide these chronically ill elders with compassionate and professional holistic care. If they’re prediabetic, perhaps they need delicious, nutritious meals at our day center … maybe they are having hip pain that can be solved with orthotic footwear we can provide … or perhaps they’re struggling with addiction and depression, and they can avail themselves of sessions with a PACE mental health counselor. If they’re here at PACE, a participant can get all these services in one location.

In fact, a typical PACE participant has been diagnosed with six chronic health conditions. We act as a facilitator with each specialist and coordinate their care, including rides through our own fleet of vehicles.

We are not a competitor with family doctors. Instead, we are a part of the care continuum dedicated to helping complex patients retain quality of life as they age. My job will be to let the medical community know how PACE can help them serve their chronically ill, age 55-plus patient population.

PBN: You have decades of experience as a business executive in addition to your medical education and years working as a physician. How does your unique background prepare you for this role?

NIKOLOPOULOS: Having both business and medical expertise will serve me well in this role at PACE. It’s the reality of the health care industry right now that understanding market forces, reimbursements and regulations necessitate business acumen. While many doctors go back to school for an MBA, I did the reverse and came to the medical field with experience and education in business.

PACE is both a medical provider and an insurer and is at the forefront of the movement toward “value-based care.” Because of my business background, I also understand the importance of good customer service and I want to embed that philosophy into every point of contact here at PACE.

PBN: In the past year, PACE-RI has opened new headquarters in East Providence and increased its census count by 17%. What’s driving this growth and drawing more older adults to PACE-RI?

NIKOLOPOULOS: I’d suggest that there are two factors contributing to our growth: growing awareness of our services and COVID. We find the best way to reach new participants is word of mouth. Nine of 10 PACE-RI participants say they would recommend us to family and friends, and other local providers are our top referral source.

Our participants and their caregivers appreciate how we creatively coordinate care and address health holistically. For example, we have a participant who travelled the world playing guitar professionally. He had some behavioral health troubles as he got older and found himself homeless in R.I. at one point. He got connected to services and PACE, and we bought an electric bass guitar and amplifier that we keep here at the day center for him to play. He loves playing every day and we ensure he takes his medications to stay healthy.

COVID also is a factor. As we well know, this virus disproportionally affected the elders in our community, but PACE participants were three times less likely to get COVID than their peers. Despite doing a very good job of keeping our PACE participants healthy during that time, we also learned how COVID isolation negatively impacted physical and mental health. It gave new value to the PACE model, which includes day center transportation, nutrition and activities.

Whether participants want tai chi or poker, BINGO or Skee-Ball, arts and crafts, we have it. Keeping active and engaged is critical to good health and PACE participants can take advantage of a full range of activities that we offer.

PBN: What is the organization’s plan to keep the momentum going and stimulate more growth in the coming year? Are there any more plans of expansion in the state?

NIKOLOPOULOS: We are working with state and federal officials to get approval to expand our Newport Day Center into a full PACE program. Our executive team is poised and ready to add medical and mental health services on-site. With that addition, our Aquidneck Island participants can access a full range of social, medical and mental health services without having to go over the bridge. It will complement the existing full-service PACE centers that we have in Woonsocket, Westerly and East Providence.

Claudia Chiappa is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Chiappa@PBN.com.