Imagine Sally, an 85-year old widow who regularly visits a primary care physician, a cardiologist, an endocrinologist and an ophthalmologist. In the last several years, she has been admitted to the hospital for multiple stent operations due to congestive heart failure, and she requires ongoing chronic care management to manage her condition and related complications including high blood pressure and type-II diabetes. The ability for Sally to take her numerous medications is often challenged by her macular degeneration, which can make seeing and distinguishing among her medicines very difficult. While Sally has help from an in-home health aide for a few hours each weekday and most Saturdays, she’s on her own to manage any health situations that arise in the evenings and on Sundays.
Sally’s situation is not unique. In fact, millions of seniors and people with disabilities enrolled in Medicare face similar circumstances. They are taking multiple medications that can be hard to keep straight, and they are regularly visiting a number of health care providers across a variety of in-patient and out-patient care settings – all with varying degrees of help from caregivers and loved ones. To say the least, their health care needs are complex.
So how do we solve for this complexity and prevent it from becoming a barrier to the health and well-being of our nation’s senior and disabled citizens? One important way is by ensuring the care of Medicare beneficiaries is well-coordinated. This means ensuring a patient’s providers are talking with one another and sharing health information so that they have a patient’s complete health picture in-hand when making care decisions. But it also goes far beyond that.
It includes developing care plans for patients that address their multiple chronic conditions and associated comorbidities. It also encompasses working to overcome cultural, literacy, and language barriers that could limit a patient’s adherence to this plan. It involves assigning a nurse or other health care professional to conduct check-ins with patients on a regular basis or to use digital remote monitoring devices and other technologies to keep abreast of a patient’s health status in real-time. And it may even include the very practical act of helping coordinate transportation so that patients can get to and from their necessary doctors’ visits.
All together, these types of activities can make a real and meaningful difference in the health of Medicare beneficiaries – and even save their lives. That’s why we’ve joined forces today to launch the Care Coordination Saves Lives campaign. Together, we pledge to identify and advance proven care coordination policies and practices that can improve the health and lives of Medicare beneficiaries. And fortunately we can look to the Medicare Advantage program as a solid starting point for the kinds of evidence-based, successful care coordination strategies we want to promote that are working in practice today.
In the coming weeks and months, we urge you to watch for more information, resources, and news updates from us as the campaign unfolds. We hope you will lend your voice and ideas to this important effort, and join us in the Care Coordination Saves Lives campaign (click here to request partnership information) – every perspective can make a difference.
Visit the Coalition for Medicare Choices website to read the stories and hear the testimonies of beneficiaries who are living health, active lives thanks to Medicare Advantage and the care coordination it provides.