Apr 24
2019
Virtual Care For Chronic Disease Management
By Lee Horner, CEO, Synzi.
The statistics related to chronic disease management are staggering. According to the US National Center for Health Statistics, 40 percent of the US population have chronic conditions and almost one-third of this patient population has multiple chronic conditions. It’s a struggle to manage and engage these patients and keep the “sickest of the sick” at home, receiving care, vs. returning to the hospital or another facility. These high-risk members are also the most expensive. The treatment of patients with chronic conditions accounts for three-quarters of the $2.2 trillion in healthcare spending, with roughly 96 cents per dollar spent in Medicare and 83 cents per dollar in Medicaid, according to the CDC.
Unfortunately, these patients may be “frequent fliers” in a health system; they typically need more attention between care appointments and often rely on emergency medical services and/or the emergency room to answer questions and provide care in non-critical situations. Significant opportunities exist for technology and touchpoints to bring ongoing care and support closer to these patients. Virtual care technology can improve care coordination and increase patient access to convenient care 24/7. Frequent touchpoints can continually engage chronic care patients, resulting in better disease management, improved outcomes and reduced costs.
Post-acute care organizations are embracing the use of a virtual care communication platform to engage chronic care patients and optimize their agency’s available resources. Using a combination of a video-based platform and readily available smartphones, tablets and PCs, home health clinicians can quickly connect, communicate and collaborate with patients – and colleagues — to ensure patients are actively monitored and motivated in their care without a series of in-home visits.
Ongoing messages and a series of virtual visits can augment – and even replace – many traditional in-person visits, effectively reducing the costs and liabilities associated with nurses driving to each patient’s home. The virtual visit can also include a clinician, a pharmacist and even an interpreter, depending on the patient’s needs. During virtual visits, home health providers can use video to detect potential patient issues before an in-person consult is needed and deliver preventive care during the call, minimizing the need for an immediate in-person intervention.