With the rapid changes in health care needs in the past few years alone, it's more important than ever to have a coordinated approach to patient care. At Forcura, we understand that the main goal of care coordination is to deliver high-quality, high-value health care to patients while meeting their particular needs to produce the best health outcomes. But what does that actually mean in practice? Let's take a closer look at what patient care coordination is and why it’s important.
Care Coordination Definition
By definition, care coordination is right in the name itself – providing care for patients while coordinating their needs. This involves quality improvement strategies including the organization of activities like treatment and necessary appointments, and the sharing of information with a patient's care team to achieve safer, more effective care and improved health outcomes. The process of care coordination begins when a patient seeks access to care in such places as a hospital, clinic, or primary care practice. From there, the health care team or medical professionals will evaluate the patient’s health, give a diagnosis, and create a care coordination plan. Follow-up appointments and post-care treatments are important to keep the patient’s wellness in check. So, how can a care coordination plan align resources and benefit patients and care managers alike?
Benefits of Care Coordination
Organizing care is beneficial and important because it helps ensure that patients receive the right level of care, at the right time and in the most appropriate setting. When done correctly, it can lead to improved patient outcomes, higher patient satisfaction, and reduced costs. Coordinated care can also help prevent hospital readmissions and emergency department visits.
What Care Management Can Do
Care management can be applied to a range of patient conditions from simple to complex, and providers work to ensure the patient's medical history matches the right health care services. Important aspects of successful care coordination include:
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Access to health care services and providers for high-value health care delivery
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Effective care plans and communications among all clinical and support staff involved
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A focus on the patient’s total health care needs and the resources needed
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Clear and simple information that is easily understood by support staff and the patients themselves
Approaches to Coordinated Care
Organizing care involves either a broad or more narrow approach, depending on a patient's care needs or personal requirements. Broad approaches to care include overall care management, teamwork, medication management, a patient-centered medical home, and health information technology. Patient-specific approaches focus on aiding in transitions of care, creating a care plan, providing community resources, and more. These are tailored for each patient, making them much more distinct to their needs.
Types of Care Coordination
There are a variety of models that can be used to coordinate care. Some common examples include disease management programs, patient-centered medical homes, accountable care organizations, and bundled payment systems. Which model is right for a particular patient or situation depends on a number of factors such as the type of condition being treated, the setting in which care is being provided, and the needs and preferences of the patients involved.
Examples of Care Plans
Care coordination can be dependent on the length and complexity of a patient’s health needs. These factors apply to primary care, acute care, and post-acute or long-term care, and depending on the type, care plans are created to address them appropriately. Primary care coordination, for example, is commonly used to treat and monitor chronically ill patients or persistent conditions that require a guided care plan, while acute care plans relate more to episodic health problems such as a heart attack or stroke. A post-acute care plan may involve treatment at a rehabilitation facility or movement to another place of care based on the patient's long-term health needs. Each of these care plan types comprises different levels of doctor’s visits, medication management, and other medical instructions that the patient may follow from home.
Perspectives on Care Coordination
There are also certain perspectives regarding patient care coordination, such as the patient/family perspective, health care professional perspective, and system representative perspective. Each should be considered to ensure that patients, their providers, and the care management plans created are all on the same page. Observing a combination of these perspectives is important for comprehensive care, and communication across all stakeholders is key. This is where technology has become highly useful, with remote options now more widely available and digital channels such as telehealth and portals being employed for user-friendly communication and feedback.
Technology and Care Coordination
Over the years, technological advances in the medical field have greatly improved health care coordination. Technology plays an important role today in effectively communicating and coordinating among all members of a healthcare team. Electronic health records (EHRs) can be a particularly useful tool in this regard since they provide a central repository for storing and sharing information about patients' medical histories, treatment plans, medications, test results, and more patient data. Plus, there are a growing number of mobile apps and other digital tools that help patients manage their own health and connect with their providers as needed.
How to Improve Outcomes and Accessibility Through HIT
Health information technology (HIT) is advantageous for both patients and their health care teams because it not only creates a more streamlined and organized approach to care plans, but patients can relay information more easily to their medical team and vice versa. HIT should be used to help improve communication between health care professionals and their patients by knocking down typical barriers and allowing both to send messages, important files, and other information through easy-to-use apps and portals. Since 2020, virtual appointments have also added value to care coordination plans for people whose health isn’t always conducive to traveling for in-office follow-ups.
Care coordination is a vital part of the health care system. While it’s important for patients to have a comprehensive plan for their wellness, medical teams also benefit from this guided approach, particularly when accompanied by advancements in technology. When you or a loved one are in need of health care services, be sure to ask your provider about their care coordination services and how they can help you receive the best possible care.
How Forcura Aims to Help Improve Health Care Delivery
At Forcura, we partner with more than 800 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!
