topic: Care Continuum
How to Improve Your Patient Access Services By Chelsea White
Led and managed well, a patient access department can be a justifiable source of pride for any health care organization – and a distinct competitive differentiator.
Getting your “Value-Based Care House” in Order by Embracing Primary Care By Sylvia Dochterman
Many primary care strategies fall short because health systems focus on the old “heads in beds” mentality. Instead, with value-based care, we need primary care to keep patients out of the hospital.
Five Lessons for Making Your Care Coordination Efforts a Lasting Reality By Crystal Cox Cooper and Robin Figueroa
Care coordination can make the difference toward achieving more consistently positive patient health outcomes. It also helps providers meet several new and increasing outcomes-related financial incentives.
Planning Your Remote Patient Monitoring Strategy? By Alan Little
As recently as five years ago, due to a variety of technological and financial factors, providers, insurers and patients were relatively slow to adopt remote patient monitoring (RPM) – technology that enables patients to be monitored outside of traditional clinical settings.
Going Digital to Improve the Provider-Patient Experience By Elyse Ruiz
As seen in Becker’s Health IT & CIO Review. Technology has redefined how people shop for and consume goods and services. In today’s digital era, companies like Amazon, Uber, and Apple have revolutionized how transactions are conducted – at the touch of a button, anywhere and anytime. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, e-commerce in the United States grew by 14.6 percent in 2015, marking the sixth consecutive year that online sales grew...
Conference Reveals New Provider Perspectives in Patient Engagement By Jim Buckheit
As seen in Becker's Hospital Review. We hear the term “patient engagement” often, but is it really making a difference in terms of patient experience and outcomes? According to a recent NEJM Catalyst Insights Council survey of 340 hospital or health care executives, clinicians and clinical leaders, less than a quarter of their patients were highly engaged in their care decisions and just 9 percent of respondents reported high...
ACOs: Implementing and Sustaining Value-Based Change By Bob Wadsworth
As seen in Health Intelligence Network. Just as “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” neither is an efficient, sustainable, and physician-focused accountable care organization (ACO). Instead, expect to embrace a stair-step approach to making the necessary changes in your care delivery and administrative practices. Competency and capability development is always multi-dimensional, so consider these five steps as a benchmark for your organization’s critical thinking on ACO development. Introduction In California, we’re now in what could be termed the “second generation”...
Understanding Patient Experience: Best Practices and Lessons from HCAHPS Successes
Patient experience has become a major factor in health care — and for good reason. Not only is patient experience (aka patient satisfaction) now directly tied to reimbursement, but as the health care marketplace becomes more competitive via partnerships, mergers and new entrants, patients — many of whom are paying higher deductibles —are increasingly noting the value and service they receive in their health care delivery. As a result, health care, like other industries, is becoming more consumer-centric. Providers must respond accordingly. Some health care organizations are basing...
Practical Approaches to Enhance Care Transitions into the Community By Shanti Wilson
As seen in Becker’s Hospital Review. Enhancing care transitions requires involvement from all members of the care team. From the provider to the patient, practical approaches to advancing communication and data are key for improving outcomes and quality of care. Health education, community-based organizations (CBOs), soft handoffs, nurse case managers, and shared action plans can all enrich care transitions and lead to improvements throughout the care continuum. By focusing on data and analytics and finding gaps...