Coordinated Care Definition & Why It is Important?

Coordinated Care Organizations, established by Oregon state, deliver healthcare coverage at local or regional levels. Their purpose is to coordinate healthcare providers to improve patient outcomes.

Why is Coordination of Care Essential?

Care coordination involves orchestrating all aspects of healthcare delivery to one patient by multiple specialists and providers in order to optimize quality outcomes while decreasing healthcare costs by eliminating redundant procedures or tests. Practices for care coordination aim at both improving patient healthcare outcomes while simultaneously cutting costs associated with their healthcare costs by consolidating care delivery into one central point. LPN programs facilitate students with a deeper understanding.

Coordination of care can be an invaluable strategy to enhance healthcare’s effectiveness, efficiency, and safety. Properly coordinated care delivered to those needing it will benefit everyone involved in its delivery.

As the coordinated care definition suggests, It aims to deliver safe, high-quality health care that fulfills individual patient preferences while meeting health providers’ safety expectations. Providers use this data to deliver appropriate, safe care services exceeding patient expectations.

Coordinating care includes several specific activities. They are:

• Establishing accountability and allocating responsibility
• Communicate knowledge sharing
• The transition of care: Helping transition care
• Assess patient needs & goals
• Create a proactive healthcare plan
• Follow-up and monitoring, such as responding when their needs change
• Supporting patients’ self-management goals
• Linking to community resources that meet patient and population needs

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Why is Coordinated Care Needed?

Care coordination is necessary for two reasons as per the coordinated care definition. One is its potential risk to patients’ well-being or even mortality: failure to communicate abnormal test results properly between providers and patients or prescribing multiple prescriptions from different physicians without regard for what medications the patient already takes increases risk significantly, potentially leading to poorer health outcomes. The best nursing colleges In Illinois aid students with in-depth learning of the same.

Uncoordinated healthcare facilities can also be costly for patients and health systems alike, leading to duplicate tests and services being rendered and an increased likelihood of hospital readmissions or avoidable admissions.

Examples of Care Coordination

Healthcare providers across all levels employ coordinated care delivery in their practice – from primary to long-term services – with patient care coordination being enhanced at each quality healthcare delivery step.

Coordinating Primary Care

Some healthcare professionals employ a “guided care” model for those with chronic conditions like diabetes or high cholesterol. A nurse in the healthcare team performs an initial assessment and works directly with primary care doctors, providers of care, and specialists to develop an action plan, then coordinates to ensure its fulfillment for patient-centered care.

Acute Care Coordination

Patients experiencing acute health conditions like heart attacks and strokes require complex coordination due to these urgent and severe emergencies, which may occur anywhere and at any time. Patients seeking medical care often rely on emergency medical services and hospitals that fall outside their usual network for first-line assistance, increasing the chance for communication breakdowns and redundancies among providers involved in health care delivery.

Coordination and synchronization of health care for optimal results have never been more critical, with acute care coordination that emphasizes communication between providers-handoffs shown as one key indicator of its success. Acute care coordination does not stop once an emergency has passed and patients have been discharged from a facility. Acute care coordinators ensure a seamless transition of care to patients through follow-up appointments, making sure prescriptions are filled by their pharmacists, and reviewing follow-up instructions with patients and families.

Coordinators will also follow up with patients several weeks post-discharge to ensure that everything has gone according to plan, answer any queries, and reduce readmission rates and unnecessary emergency room visits, contributing towards lower mortality rates and helping avoid unnecessary emergency department visits. These efforts aim to decrease hospital readmission rates as well as avoid unnecessary emergency visits as a means of decreasing mortality rates.

Coordination of Post-Acute/Long Term Care

As their health changes, patients in long-term post-acute (PAC) care facilities or rehabilitation facilities may need to switch facilities or care levels as their needs shift. Memory problems and mental impairment are frequent among these primarily senior patients. Quality care coordination is necessary to implement effective care plans and manage medication transfers effectively for complex conditions. Illinois College of Nursing Tuition helps nursing students learn the importance of coordinated care.

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Studies indicate that hospital discharges to post-acute (PAC) facilities have increased rapidly over time and that readmission from these facilities back into hospitals is prevalent. The risk of readmission can be an indicator that the transitional care process has fallen short or there’s been an imbalance of resources to meet patient needs. Patients deserve advocacy, so PAC acts as patient advocates by connecting patients to services offered at their facility or elsewhere to maximize the quality of care, life and prevent readmission.