Patient-centered care revolves around the treating the person and making sure their healthcare needs are met. Hospital managers are learning what they need to do to make sure patients receive the best care possible. They are learning to take the primary focus off the limits and restrictions put in place by insurance companies and health care providers. This allows them to give the patient the care they need instead of the care they can afford.
Team-Based Healthcare
Team based healthcare includes all of the people responsible for a patient’s health and well-being. Nurses, doctors, technicians and members of management all must work together to make sure the patient’s needs are met on all levels. Members of management take care of scheduling treatment and processing the paperwork that ensures proper billing and payment; all skills that can be renewed in an online Healthcare Management MBA program.
Each member of the team plays a vital role in healthcare. From the minute patients enter the facility and until discharged, patients will come to work with professionals from all levels of healthcare. Meeting patients’ needs and making sure their care is of the highest quality possible should be the goal of every team member. For this to be achieved, the team must work together as a cohesive unit. Communication and interaction should be at its best.
Coordinating Services
Hospital managers work with several different aspects of healthcare. Members of management coordinate healthcare services so each one knows what is happening with a patient. This will help medical professionals provide the best care possible when it comes time for the patient to be transferred to their department. For services to work together efficiently, members of management must be able to communicate with one another concerning scheduling, examinations and the basic needs of the patient. As part of a unified team, the professionals responsible for each service must know where they fall within the parameters of the patient’s care plan.
Patient-Centered Briefing
Patient-centered briefing involves keeping every member of the patient’s healthcare team up to speed with the patient’s current condition. While this is mostly accomplished through the efforts of charting and interpersonal communications between healthcare providers (doctors and nurses), members of management must also be involved. It is their job to make sure insurance companies and other financial providers know what is being discussed. This can also mean communicating with other facilities if specialized care is needed. For example, a person who has experienced severe trauma due to an accident may need special care that cannot be found at their local hospital or healthcare facility.
Access to Complete Care
Hospital managers must be able to work within their industry to make sure patients get complete healthcare. All aspects of their health must be addressed and in some cases, may include more than just physical medical care. A patient’s mental and emotional state must also be taken into consideration. Depression, bi-polar disorder and other mental conditions can directly affect a patient’s physical health. Treating the patient as a whole is important in getting to the bottom of health problems. Just treating the symptoms of a disease or illness leaves the door open for its return.
A patient briefing where every member of the patient’s healthcare team is present allows for a complete treatment plan to be developed that will provide lasting benefits. Members of management can help to oversee the process and add insight into ways that will keep the patient’s healthcare costs manageable. By working together, medical professionals can improve the quality of healthcare a patient receives and assist each other in doing the best job possible.
Medical professionals are quickly realizing the patient must be the main priority. In hospitals where healthcare is regulated by insurance companies and corporate protocols, patients often suffer from poor quality healthcare and must go without certain types of treatment because they are considered to be too expensive or unnecessary. Patient-centered healthcare puts the final decision back in the hands of those who are able to help. Doctors and specialists work with patients to make the final decision on how best to proceed with treatment. This not only helps patients recover much sooner but gives them better preventative care to eliminate the risk of illness and disease in the future.
