A strong care coordination structure is an important part of providing quality healthcare services. This process involves organizing and managing the resources necessary to ensure that individuals receive the best possible care while minimizing any unnecessary costs or delays. Here are some of the main benefits of having a dedicated care coordinator, which helps both patients and providers by helping to ensure that all members of a patient’s healthcare team are working together toward the same goals.
Engaging With Patients to Improve Patient Outcomes
By arranging care between different providers and specialists, care coordinators can help improve communication and collaboration among members of a patient’s care team. With a care coordinator, it’s less likely that things will get lost in the shuffle, which can happen when patients are dealing with multiple specialists or health care providers and are in charge of their own care. This assistance works to improve health outcomes for patients whose health care delivery may have decreased in quality otherwise.
Coordinating Care to Create Health Goals
Most people whose focus is on their health care may not always be aware of what the short-term and long-term goals are. With care coordination, patients can work with providers to coordinate services to reach achievable outcomes. This can be a more positive way to help in the health care journey, especially for people who feel as though they’ve been left in the dark for the majority of their care.
Saving Costs and Wasteful Spending with Coordinated Care
Many patients are often overwhelmed with the finances associated with healthcare, which only increases the burden on their health. Through careful planning, care coordinators can help reduce costs by making sure that the care provided is of the highest quality and that patients get only the treatments or services they need.
Offering Relief to Caregivers
Caregivers are often not equipped to handle the necessary care of patients. Typically, it’s a loved one who is able to help, but this can still be difficult based on their own health situations and needs. With care coordination, professionals are able to take over chronic disease management while also including the initial caregivers in a way that’s less demanding so that patients receive optimal care.
Making Health Care Improvements that Increase Patient Satisfaction
It can be discouraging as a patient when you feel you aren’t being heard or valued; care coordination works to make sure you are in each case. By ensuring that all members of a patient’s care team are working together toward common goals, care coordinators can improve the overall experience for patients and their families. This includes ensuring that appointments and tests are scheduled in a timely manner, medications are taken as prescribed, and questions or concerns are addressed promptly for ongoing quality improvement.
Addressing Emotional Concerns Surrounding a Chronic Health Condition
People take for granted the profound effects physical health can have on mental health, and vice-versa. Where care coordination can help is by addressing the needs of your emotional concerns, such as medical trauma or anxiety. Comprehensive care coordination enables providers to include a patient's mental and physical well-being in care management.
Providing Solutions for Families
The topic of health care can be sensitive for most patients and their loved ones. What care coordinators do is help work through these difficult conversations and problems in a way that’s proactive and productive. Having medical providers, professionals, and other care team members who can answer questions and problem-solve creates a better peace of mind moving forward.
Coordinating with Primary Care Practices to Offer More Accessible Treatment
It may seem counter-intuitive to have patients go back and forth to doctors' appointments when they’re not able. Care coordination provides a more accessible treatment plan that may be conducive to home visits. Coordinators may even be able to assess a patient’s ongoing needs or services from the comfort of their own space.
Creating Positive Health Outcomes Through Patient Education and Complex Care Services
Care coordination is an essential part of providing quality health care services today. It is a key factor in ensuring that all members of the health care system, including the patient, understand their role and are working towards shared goals. It also offers peace of mind knowing each member of the healthcare team understands their unique needs and goals.
Disease management and value-based care around chronic illnesses can reduce stress for patients as they need to focus less on understanding how different aspects of their care work together and more on recovering from illness or managing a chronic illness, such as high blood pressure or cancer.
From a health care provider’s perspective, care coordination allows for better patient outcomes due to greater communication and collaboration between different care teams. This can help reduce medical errors, as each member of the team is kept up-to-date on a patient’s progress. It increases efficiency in the system as all members of the health care team have an understanding of what needs to be done when it comes to treatment plans. It also helps reduce costs associated with unnecessary tests or treatments that can occur when there is inadequate communication between providers.
Seeking Ways to Streamline Care Coordination Through Technology
By implementing care coordination practices, health care teams are able to work together more efficiently to provide the best possible care for their patients. Patient care coordinators will seek ways not only to enhance health care and patient engagement but streamline the process to demonstrate ongoing quality improvement. Patient data can be accessed through technology to improve care coordination, increasing patient satisfaction and quality of care overall.
Utilizing Forcura for Patient-centered Coordinated Care
At Forcura, we partner with more than 850 post-acute care organizations to provide workflow management solutions that help them operate more efficiently and focus on delivering high-quality care. Forcura’s technology platform facilitates better care coordination among teams and contributes to more than half a million patients each month experiencing less friction and more positive results in their care. Like the home health, hospice, personal care, and other clients we serve, we believe the role of patients in coordinating care plans with their team should be easy so that the only thing they need to focus on is their health. For more information, check out Forcura today!
