Chronic Care Management: How it Benefits Patients

What do you think is the percentage of people dealing with at least one chronic condition in the United States?

Did you know that 133 million Americans suffer from chronic health problems? Healthcare organizations need to do everything possible to give them the treatment that they deserve.

Surprisingly, the most advanced civilization on the planet Earth is struggling to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Statistically, three in every five people in the US are suffering from at least one chronic condition. To worsen the condition, four in every 10 people are chronically ill with at least two chronic conditions.

While chronic care management software is making the lives of healthcare providers much easier, the benefits for patients are often blurred in the process. This is important to ensure hospitals offer more efficient healthcare services.

In this blog, we will briefly cover chronic care management and how it can benefit patients suffering from chronic conditions.

Who Needs Chronic Care Management Program?

Dealing with chronic conditions like chronic pain caused by trauma can be a costly affair for patients and the inconvenience it causes in receiving care can be frustrating at times. To tackle this problem, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has designed a program for medicare beneficiaries who have at least two chronic conditions, which is expected to last for at least one year. That program is called Chronic Care Management specially designed for people with chronic conditions.

With the rising number of chronic cases, the CCM program aims to promote better and convenient care facilities for patients along with reducing overall healthcare costs.

Benefits of Chronic Care Management for Patients

Chronic care management programs are specially designed to reduce the chances of hospital readmission, reduce the overall costs for patient care and proactively involve patients with their care plans to improve health outcomes of the patients.

However, some of the additional benefits of the CCM for patients are mentioned below:

1. Improved Access to Care

Software for chronic care management with integration with telehealth platforms and EHRs improves the access to care for patients. Features like teleconsultations enable patients to virtually connect with providers and receive care. Since proactive and preventive care is the focus in the CCM program, the patients have 24/7 access to care providers.

By giving patients more control of their health and actively involving them in the process, patients can easily reach out to providers in case of any doubts or complications. Other extended facilities like virtual care and remote patient monitoring, CCM improves access to care even for patients in underserved and remote areas.

2. Enhanced Care Coordination

One of the most common complaints that patients with chronic conditions have is that they have trouble coordinating with healthcare professionals. However, in a CCM program, care coordination is enhanced by seamlessly connecting all the members involved in the care team. 

For example, if a patient is required to conduct a lab test, then the chronic care management software will instantly notify the test centers about the requirement. This way, the patient can reach the test center in their network and seamlessly get tested. Furthermore, integration of EHRs with the CCM software will directly reflect the lab test results in the patient’s medical records, which will again make it convenient for both patients and providers to access crucial health information.

3. Easy Care Transitions

Traditional practices to receive care have been hectic and tiring for patients. Physical appointments, and traveling to hospitals, lab test centers and even pharmacies posed obstacles to receiving care.

However, the CCM program leverages technology to make it comfortable and convenient for patients to receive care. Telehealth and EHR integration along with remote monitoring features made it easy for chronic patients to easily transition from physical care to digital or virtual care.

4. Reduction in Healthcare Costs

Diagnosis and treatment of chronic conditions are comparatively expensive for many patients. Hospital visits for regular check-ups, lab tests and medication further increase the financial burden on patients. With features like RPM, and video consultations, CCM software reduces the chances of hospital readmission which further reduces the overall cost of receiving care.

Chronic care management software prioritizes preventive care which keeps the patient healthy and out of the hospital. Along with that, 24/7 access to emergency nurse lines eliminates hospital visits for non-urgent issues and provides assistance in basic care. To further help save the cost of healthcare services, the dedicated care team can coordinate and help patients find less expensive prescriptions.

5. 24/7 Clinical Communication

Chronic conditions stay with the patient for a long period of time. This makes continuous monitoring a necessity to stay healthy and avoid further complications of the situation. Dealing with such conditions patients need to communicate with the providers for assurance and avoid taking any risks.

Care plan software solves this problem by enabling patients to be constantly in contact with providers and receive care. Innovative options like 24/7 open nurse lines and dedicated care teams which are open 24/7 make it easier for patients to reach out to care providers and receive care in real-time. Such options not only empower patients to be actively involved in their care plan but also increase patient satisfaction which directly or indirectly contributes to improved patient outcomes.

Challenges CCM Patients May Face

Patient benefits of chronic care management software can help in improving health outcomes significantly. However, CCM adoption also comes bearing challenges that a patient may likely face. 

Here are some of the most common challenges CCM patients face:

1. Busy Providers: The burden on healthcare providers is something that is really less talked about. Their busy schedules and high number of patients may make it difficult for them to meet patient’s expectations.
2. Inadequate Patient Education: Oftentimes patients are less aware about the diseases. This might make them skeptical about the diagnosis and care plans, which leads to high probability of patients missing out on medication.
3. Poor Coordination: Technology is here to assist both patients and providers. However, the diversity in the technical ecosystem in the healthcare landscape can make sharing information difficult. Leading to poor monitoring and delays in care delivery.
4. Poor Monitoring: Many healthcare facilities have inconsistent and even non-existent follow-up systems. It makes the patients lose accountability and distract from the decided care plan. Such situations can cause difficulty in monitoring and expected outcomes might suffer.

Conclusion

Chronic Care Management software has life changing benefits for patients. Though there are some challenges that can cause difficulty in receiving optimum care, nothing that can’t be solved. A CCM software gives patients more control of their health and reduces the burden on healthcare providers as well.