Care Coordination: What is it and how does it help?
You may or may not have heard of Care Coordination in healthcare. This post will provide an overview of what it is and how it may help you, as a patient, get important quality care. The basic premise underlying Care Coordination is that a holistic approach to a patient’s health and treatment is best served by having physicians and other health care providers sharing patient information and goals so that all providers are coordinating their efforts to promote a patient’s well-being.
What does this mean in reality?
Information is one of the keys to the success of this approach. As a patient, you provide information to each provider who supports you. Instead of having this information siloed by each of the professionals who provide you services, this information is shared so everyone on the patient’s team has the same information. Your medical and psychological history, medications, and agreed upon treatment plans (if needed) are all shared in a single electronic space. This means that when visiting a provider or making care decisions, a holistic and tailored approach can be taken. This results in more efficient delivery of services and better outcomes for the patient.
The coordination of care is extremely important in getting the best services for you, the patient, as well as the most efficient and targeted care by physicians and other health care entities. This is particularly true when there are either transitions between specialized health support ( i.e. consulting with a specialist such as a cardiologist for a specific treatment) and transitions over time necessitating a change in care (i.e. attending to increasing care needs based on aging or disease progression). With coordination, providers know what others who are giving support are doing, what tests they may be ordering, and results. Coordination of care also has a benefit on the patient side. With all of the information being coordinated by providers, the patient will have access to all parts of his or her profile in one place. Without this coordination the patient may find themselves bouncing from one caregiver to the next, trying to reconcile the different pieces of their health care puzzle. This might result in less efficient care with less effective results. Another patient benefit is that input on course of treatment and care can be shared throughout a care network. All of the team will then be on the same page as they provide their own brand of support.
Coordinated care can extend beyond health care providers to community support programs, education programs, and financial services. Today we know that a patient may have interrelated medical, social, behavioral and psychological needs. Gaps in care might occur if patient care is not coordinated.
How is this coordinated care reflected in therapy practices?
Again we know that mental and physical health concerns are often interrelated. For example, suffering from illness may result in depression or anxiety. Treatment coordinated between physicians and therapists may enhance a wellness trajectory. Medications can also have side effects, and therapists who are aware of a patient’s treatment may then have greater insight on how to best support their clients. In addition a mental health challenge may impact a physical symptom. Clients who are working through depression may present with physical ailments. With a coordinated care approach, a therapist would be able to see treatment was underway and be able to treat the patient holistically instead of just placing a bandaid on symptoms.
As a therapist in private practice offering a coordinated care approach is important to me.
My clients are able to rely on a more comprehensive approach to their well-being as I work with other professionals to give personalized and holistic support. If this is an approach that resonates with you, I’d be happy to talk about how my work would benefit you. Please reach out. I’d love to talk.