Managing a chronic condition doesn’t stop at the clinic door. Patients have to refill their medications, make regular follow-up calls, and report on their symptoms every day. That is why chronic care management needs consistent support.
For patients suffering from diabetes, hypertension, or cardiovascular disease, even a small gap in care can cause them to end up in the hospital. Good chronic care management helps prevent these situations.
But how can you know when your support is right for chronic care management? The answer certainly isn’t in recruiting additional employees. It’s about having the right people in the right places.
Why Patient Support Matters in Chronic Care Management
A chronic condition does not fit into the typical 9-to-5 workday; a blood sugar level may spike in the middle of the night, and a patient may miss an afternoon dosage due to preoccupation with grandchildren. So, you need to consider all these factors when it comes to chronic care management.
By adding the appropriate layer of patient support, practices increase patient adherence to their treatment programs. Patients will contact the practice with questions rather than wait until symptoms worsen before taking action.
6 Ways the Right Support Improves Chronic Care Management
The following are the 6 ways that the right support can help to improve chronic care management:
1. Consistent follow-up calls
People often forget things. It isn’t an issue of personal responsibility; it’s simply because people do not always remember things when stressed. You can do weekly calls to remind patients of their treatment and help to address issues before they occur.
Just a brief five-minute call per week can help staff identify medication side effects or misunderstandings about treatment instructions.
2. Administrative and scheduling help
Many chronic care management programs fail due to paperwork issues, rather than issues involving healthcare treatments. Chronic care programs can lose valuable time to administrative problems. Missed appointments, unanswered insurance questions, and scheduling difficulties can take time away from the care teams who need to focus on patient care.
This is why healthcare practices are leveraging remote medical assistants to manage administrative workload. The remote medical assistant can take care of scheduling and insurance verification. It provides a valuable opportunity for doctors and nurses to spend their quality time with their patients instead of being buried under administrative work.
3. Personalized care plans
The “one size fits all” method does not apply to the management of chronic diseases. Every patient requires different approaches depending on their condition. For instance, if a patient has chronic kidney disease (CKD), they need changes in diet, kidney function tests, and regulation of blood pressure. In contrast, a patient with COPD will require breathing exercises, inhaler use, and observation of respiratory signs.
You need to provide a personalized plan to patients based on their diseases and health conditions to manage their condition. Care teams can customize plans considering symptoms and medications.
4. Remote patient monitoring
Remote patient monitoring allows healthcare practitioners to track important health measurements remotely. It reduces the need for frequent clinic visits. The devices can measure blood pressure, blood glucose, oxygen level, heart rate, and send this information back to the practitioner.
The continuous monitoring of the data can enable practitioners to detect any changes in patient health. If the oxygen level suddenly drops, or the blood pressure remains elevated throughout, it is an indicator that the patient requires medical intervention.
5. Medication management support
Managing multiple medications can be tricky, especially for seniors or patients suffering from more than one illness. Different dosages and timings can increase the risk of missing medicine, having duplications, and interacting negatively with other medications.
Healthcare staff can maintain accurate medication records and help patients stay on track with their prescribed medications. They can also remind patients about medication schedules and help identify any concerns that need attention from healthcare providers.
6. Emotional and behavioral support
A chronic condition can impact a person’s psychological and emotional wellness too, along with physical health. Individuals suffering from chronic diseases may also experience anxiety and depression, which makes following the treatment plan difficult for them.
They may need counseling services, behavioral therapy options, or sometimes they just need someone who can listen to them. In addition, regular phone calls can also motivate them to adhere to their treatment regimen.
Conclusion
The process of chronic care management becomes most effective when support is available when needed. Follow-ups detect any issues in time. Remote monitoring allows clinicians to remain updated in between visits.
Administrative assistance, including a remote medical assistant, organizes this entire process without making the clinicians go through all the efforts themselves.
None of the components can function separately. However, when combined, they turn chronic care management from an occasional event into a daily process that helps patients manage their conditions more comfortably.
