An emerging group of professionals, most often RNs, work across the care continuum to provide ongoing, proactive help at a lower cost to patients with high risk or complex needs.
With skilled nursing facilities spread thin and under value-based performance pressure, hospital systems are testing new approaches to prevent readmissions.
Based on provider and payer feedback, the revised program will feature annual check-ins and reporting instead of the current program's three-year recognition cycle.
Community health workers are being dispatched to the front lines of care delivery to better understand patients' socioeconomic circumstances and steer them away from costly ER visits in favor of cost-efficient and proactive care.
The emerging role of chief pharmacy officer is aiding care coordination, with positive side effects that improve drug cost efficiencies, prevent readmissions, and in some cases, lighten the load from nurses' discharge work.
Using 3-D printing techniques, complex structures such as heart openings can be designed with such accuracy that implants work better and recovery from surgery is improved.
