Care coordination is necessary for providing complete patient care but often involves many individual aspects in order to ensure patients receive the best attention for their specific needs. While care coordination has become an integral and necessary part of the continuum of care, the costs can sometimes be astronomical for healthcare facilities. Fortunately, there may be a way to streamline care coordination without sacrificing the quality of service or patient satisfaction.
Aspects of Care Coordination
The healthcare industry uses care coordination because no single person can provide the full spectrum of care that each patient needs. In a way, dividing the needs of patients into special categories can be more efficient and ensure high quality. Some of the aspects of care coordination may include:
- Primary Care
- Inpatient Care
- Medical History
- Test Results
- Patient/Family Education & Support
- Medication
- Monitoring
- Fall Prevention
Many other aspects can be added to the above list, and while having specialists handle each aspect, caring for a single patient can run up costs, place a burden on staff, and create a lot of unnecessary bureaucracy within a facility. As always, the more moving parts there are, the more chances there are for inefficiency and errors – especially when there is a transfer of responsibilities or a gap in communication.
Streamlining Care Coordination
Advances in teleprofessional services and integration have allowed hospitals and other facilities to streamline care coordination. Patient monitoring systems have allowed nurses and other staff to pay attention to patient needs from a centralized location. Telemedicine has greatly reduced errors in drug diversion. Telenursing has allowed for transparency and comprehensive communication with patients and loved ones. Fall prevention, medical history, test results, and more can be handled from a single screen to reduce the burden on staff and give patients the best quality care from admission to discharge and beyond. Teleprofessionals streamline care coordination and reduce costs, confusion, and errors across the board. Tracking every step and transferring responsibilities have become more efficient and easier through teleprofessional solutions.
As we step into a future with a greater number of patients, teleprofessional solutions will help healthcare facilities with care coordination while increasing the overall quality of care and patient satisfaction. BANYAN provides solutions and can help with all aspects of care coordination, from teleprofessional services to integration and change management. Contact BANYAN today to learn more.
