Moving from Care Coordination to Care Integration

Excerpt

It has long been recognized that coordination of health services can improve patient outcomes and experiences, and reduce healthcare costs. Yet, this virtuous goal of aligning and coordinating all care an individual receives has proven to be difficult. Only 7% of healthcare executives, clinical leaders, and clinicians indicated that their patients’ care is fully coordinated across various health settings.¹ Care teams are challenged in tracking, sharing, and acting on meaningful health information; communicating with patients, caregivers, and each other; addressing the social determinants of health; and managing care for both patients and populations. With 10,000 Baby Boomers turning 65 years old each day and individuals with multiple chronic diseases on the rise, new approaches to coordination across the care continuum are needed.² …