If you closely observe your practice database about hospital readmission, chronic patients would be leading the charts with the highest number of hospital readmissions. Statistically, chronic patients make up around 81% of the hospital readmission.
The number of patients with chronic conditions has risen drastically over the last few decades. To further worsen the situation, the changing lifestyles in the currently aging population, the global burden of chronic diseases is predicted to increase by 56%, according to the United Nations.
And it’s not a secret that chronic conditions require highly specialized, attentive, and continuous care. The rise in chronic conditions has disrupted the healthcare system. While most healthcare professionals like yourself spend most of their time treating chronically ill patients, the care services for others appear to be lacking.
To bring the focus back to treating patients who are in need, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2015 started the Chronic Care Management Program. It not only shifted the focus to better patient-centric treatment but also eliminated the time-delay factor while providing care services.
As it creates a win-win situation for your practice and patients, wouldn’t it be logical to start your own CMS CCM program?
In this blog, we’ll give you 5 reasons why you should start your own CCM Program and a 7-step implementation guide to make it easier.
So, without further ado, let’s get started!
5 Reasons Why to Start the CCM Program
Dealing with chronic conditions can be a costly affair for patients and the inconvenience it causes in receiving care can be frustrating at times. To tackle this problem, the Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has designed a program for medicare beneficiaries who have at least two chronic conditions which is expected to last for at least one year. That program is called Chronic Care Management specially designed for people with chronic conditions.
With the rising number of chronic cases, the CCM program aims to promote better and convenient care facilities for patients along with reducing the overall healthcare costs.
Benefits of Chronic Care Management for Patients
Chronic care management programs are specially designed to reduce the chances of hospital readmission, reduce the overall costs for patient care and proactively involve patients with their care plans to improve health outcomes of the patients.
However some of the additional benefits of the CCM for patients are mentioned below:
1. Improved Access to Care
Software for chronic care management with integration with telehealth platforms and EHRs improves the access to care for patients. Features like teleconsultations enable patients to virtually connect with providers and receive care. Since proactive and preventive care is the focus in the CCM program, the patients have 24/7 access to care providers.
By giving patients more control of their health and actively involving them in the process, patients can easily reach out to providers in case of any doubts or complications. Other extended facilities like virtual care and remote patient monitoring, CCM improves the access to care even for patients in underserved and remote areas.
