Why Care Coordination Matters During a Pandemic

Care coordination is a strategically organized effort to join together the different components of a patient’s care. Proven incredibly valuable since the introduction of CMS’s Chronic Care Management plan in 2015, care coordination is helping to save patients’ lives. The pandemic has had a large negative impact on patients managing multiple chronic conditions. These individuals fall into the high-risk category of people who the coronavirus can cause extreme harm to. For this reason, chronic care management patients need to stay out of provider’s offices and away from high-risk environments where they might contract COVID-19. The tool that has created the most consistency for these patients during the pandemic is care coordination. By creating an environment that promotes frequent contact and communication despite the limits of the pandemic, patients are better able to manage their health.

Benefits of Care Coordination:

Care coordination involves a phone call where providers, their team, or their vendor of Chronic Care Management Services gather and assist with a variety of data and information regarding the patient’s health and conditions.

Vitals Monitoring

For patients with multiple chronic conditions, vitals can shift and change quickly if something is not right. With care coordination, providers can keep track of patient vitals and quickly track changes in their health despite the pandemic. This not only keeps patients engaged, but it can save them from further trouble or harm should an area of their health need to be addressed. The data collected during the phone call is quickly sent to the provider for assessment where a care plan is then addressed, and clinical decisions can be made.

Review of Care Plan

Even if a care plan is thoughtfully described to patients during their in-person or digital visit, questions may still come up down the line. If a patient is confused or has questions regarding their care plan, these can be addressed during care coordination communication. Here, your CCM services team can work with your patient to review their treatment plan and answer questions. Should questions need further assessment from the physician, they can be forwarded to the appropriate person and the patient can get the answer they need. This ensures the patient is on track to follow their care plan as closely as possible to achieve the best results possible.

Address New Issues

Sometimes, unexpected and new issues arise in a patient’s health. This is especially true for patients battling chronic conditions as there are often comorbidities.  When new issues arise, this can be scary or even discouraging for patients who are already battling a host of other symptoms. With care coordination, patients can find peace of mind that there is someone who is going to be in contact with them or that they can reach should something new come up. Together, your CCM services team and your patient can work to address these issues one by one.

Monitor Prescriptions

For patients battling multiple chronic conditions, there can sometimes be unintentional discrepancies in the prescription process. If a patient forgets what they are taking or was prescribed a duplicate medication from another physician, the patient can sometimes take conflicting medications. Left unaddressed, these discrepancies can have dangerous consequences. Care coordination services offer patients prescription monitoring and reconciliation so that their providers are on the same page and patients only take what they need. At this time in the care coordination process, a CCM services team can also inform patients of any applicable prescription discounts they may be eligible for.

Care coordination is keeping chronically ill patients safe and engaged during the pandemic. To learn more about care coordination services that could help your patients, click here.