The modern healthcare industry is shifting from higher cost with fragmented care model, toward higher quality care at a lower-cost model. So, it becomes very important for a hospital industry to adopt care coordination software (CCS) that truly collaborates and succeeds in the modern healthcare environment.

Why You Need Care Coordination at your practice:

The healthcare system is a complex and fragmented network of independent entities such as multiple specialty providers, insurers, and government organizations. Which makes it difficult for patients and providers to assess quality care, and there comes the need for Care Coordination Software and Services.

Care Coordination Software Platform synchronizes the delivery of a patient’s health care from multiple providers and specialists to determine the effect of treatment and health outcomes. Care coordination helps reduce unnecessary treatments & costs, hospital re-admissions, and treatment redundancies. The ultimate goal of Care Coordination software is to facilitate improved health outcomes and patient experiences.

Providers already made costly investment such as Electronic Health Record(EHR). But, to leverage them and reach one step closer to analyze, track, manage, and improve seamless patient experience, there is a sincere need for choosing the right Care Coordination software at your practice. With targeted & well-crafted Care Coordination System, it is possible to enhance outcomes for each one out there, including providers, patients & payers.

Consider these five problem areas before choosing

care coordination software solution:

Does it support EHR collaboration:

Not all electronic health records are designed to support the coordination of care among multiple providers for collaborating in a new care continuum model. Care coordination software needs to be a flexible and extensible platform. It should enable team-based care that allows the transfer of information with accountability and transparency across the continuum model and aid the EHR in sharing relevant, actionable information.

Don’t Get locked up with Health information exchange (HIE) systems:

Some HIE vendors try to lock up providers in expensive and unnecessary HIE infrastructure in the name of the care coordination tool. Using HIE infrastructure is impractical in a heterogeneous environment. So, providers must look for a flexible care coordination platform that can interconnect with the third-party HIE system, to fill in HIE capability gaps and support the care team across the continuum.

The single data type for analytics shouldn’t be the only option:

To generate a quality report for care coordination across the continuum, the system must evolve from using single data analytics.

Multiple data analysis such as clinical data from HIE and EHR systems, administrative data from hospitals, and claims data from public and private payers becomes important to understand and measure the effectiveness of care coordination.

Using multiple data for analytics is essential to understand the performance, quality, and cost of care across the continuum. Multiple data also helps in predicting future events, costs, and diagnoses.

Stay away from Upfront license fees:

Utilizing health IT systems with upfront license fee on a pre-determined user basis increases the cost behind the care.

Care coordination programs such as Accountable care organizations (ACOs) software is a more cost-effective approach, which offers pay-as-you-grow structure.

The Pay-as-you-grow model also allows organizations to add additional functionality and new applications that are commensurate with clinical strategies.

Non-compatible with mobile and tablet is of no use:

Gone are those days when desktop software was a hero, now its time for portable compatibility. The ability of a care coordination software to get compatible with secure and intuitive mobile apps increases the productivity of a care team across the continuum.

Avoid vendors who don’t provide customer service and technical support:

Working on new software is always critical and confusing. Therefore it becomes very important for providers to have a 24/7 support system. Service may not be included as a part of software package but providers can always ask for service and support (Phone, email, chat, video tutoring, etc) from vendors

No Security, High Risk:

Providers deals with patients and software deals with their data. Care Coordination Software without security can be a big harm to the provider and as well as to the whole care continuum. Providers should ask specifically for cloud security. What tools do they use to manage security? What professional qualifications do they have? Do they have special cloud security training?

Since HIPPA penalties scare every provider, so everything in the Care Coordination System needs to be HIPAA-compliant.

To improve population health, Care Coordination becomes a bridge between clinical, social and behavioral health services and providers and patients. Choosing the right care coordination technology that helps flexible information-sharing and interactive cross-continuum communication will set themselves up for success. It plays a vital role in healthcare to shift from intervention to prevention.