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Care management is a patient-centered form of patient care that integrates preventive care support systems in an effective way. If organizations implemented the gold standard of care management, they could reduce the need for medical services and improve patient outcomes.
How to Achieve the 6 Core Elements of Care Management
If you don’t have care management software, it will be difficult to achieve your goal. Staff shortages and unpredictability become less of a problem when you utilize modern technology.
Patient Advocacy
As healthcare costs continue to rise across America, care centers may consider slashing their budgets. However, that will only make the problem worse. The healthcare industry has to invest in patient advocacy, so they can navigate its complex system and achieve their health goals.
Patient advocacy includes informing patients about new technology or treatment services and/or creating an app that updates patients about their current or (potential) future health outcomes. If you keep your patients informed, you’re more likely to prevent harrowing healthcare issues.
Social Competence and Social Awareness
Healthcare workers speak to patients from multiple different backgrounds and cultures. Being sensitive to these differences allows managers to positively interact with patients. These could include but aren’t limited to homelessness, diets, abuse, religion, and societal nuances.
To prevent misunderstandings, care managers should practice cultural competence and lead with the right questions. Never make assumptions about a person’s healthcare preferences, as that could lead to you offending someone or prescribing the wrong type of care treatment.
Senior Level Support
Care management begins with a bottom-up approach, but leaders often butt heads over the importance of patient advocacy. For care management to work, it requires senior-level support. It’s up to care managers to earn the trust of providers and other healthcare stakeholders.
When everyone is on board, it’ll be easier for staff to educate each other on the proper care protocol. Advocating for regular meetings can reduce human error and a negative ROI so long as you provide a great case for implementing care management across your care center.
Exceptional Communication Skills
Communication skills are one of the most sought-after leadership skills. In healthcare, the ability to communicate effectively will enable you to nurture relationships with providers, team leaders, and patients while ensuring the patient receives the best possible treatment they could ask for.
To reach the gold standard of care management, healthcare professionals must be able to create a care plan they can communicate to the patient and their family members. The care manager should do their best to make every person in the examination room feel comfortable.
Data-Informed Patient Treatment and Prioritization
Determining who urgently needs treatment can be a complicated task. Not only do you have to watch a patient’s actions in the moment, but you also need to read their records. As a positive, interoperability can organize patient records, but it doesn’t solve the prioritization issue.
Data-informed treatment gives healthcare staff the freedom to provide the right care at the appropriate time while preventing serious infections, improving outcomes, and reducing costs. With the right systems, you can update your queue automatically based on patient priority.
Supplying the Human Element
Data is essential for any industry, but the best healthcare professionals don’t solely rely on it. Care managers must speak to their patients on a personal level, or they won’t be able to build trust. Encourage care managers to talk about a patient’s likes, dislikes, hobbies, and family.
When care professionals know their patients, they can determine when their demeanor is suspicious. For example, if they look thinner than usual or they aren’t practicing good hygiene, they can try to assess the situation and look for signs of potential neglect, depression, or abuse.
