Case Management Advisor – September 1, 2019
September 1, 2019
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Privately Paid Case Managers Serve as Patient Health Advocates
Case managers work with patients across the care continuum, and their roles and titles vary. But one of the lesser-known models for case management is in private pay, where they are known as health advocates or patient advocates. It is a growing field, as patients and families often find it difficult to navigate the complex healthcare continuum. Health advocates provide case management-type services with their chief goals related to patients’ needs.
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How Health Advocates Work With Patients, Case Managers, and Other Resources
A health advocate’s role varies, depending on the patient populations and goals. Health advocates collaborate with the patient’s healthcare team and help everyone reach an agreement on the care transition or any necessary changes.
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Observe and Take Notes, But Try Not to Judge
Health advocates can collect comprehensive and important information about a patient’s daily life and share the findings with primary care providers. But it can be challenging to walk through someone’s home and listen and observe without judging and wanting to take immediate action.
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Collaborations Between Health Advocates and Case Managers, Others Can Make a Difference
Case managers and other healthcare providers increasingly are finding that their work includes collaboration and communication with providers and health advocates across the care continuum. For health advocates, these interactions are necessary to help the patient achieve optimal health and function.
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Work With Community Partners to Develop Solutions for Opioid Use Disorder Patients
While many emergency physicians are reluctant to tackle the issue of addiction, there is growing recognition that EDs offer a huge opportunity to identify patients with opioid use disorders and link them to meaningful care. The obstacles are many, but forward-thinking emergency medicine leaders in regions hit hard by the opioid epidemic are finding paths to success, often in partnership with other agencies or community groups.
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Leapfrog Says Patient Safety Measures Improving; Maternity Not So Much
A recent report from the Leapfrog Group and Johns Hopkins found that poor hospital performance on 16 patient safety measures caused more than 161,000 deaths annually, a decrease from 2016. The Spring 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades updates the group’s estimate of deaths due to errors, accidents, injuries, and infections, breaking them down by the A through F scores Leapfrog assigns to hospitals. An analysis of 2,600 hospitals reveal that when compared to A hospitals, there was a 92% greater risk of avoidable death at D and F hospitals.