You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone in this world who hasn’t been significantly affected by the ongoing pandemic, especially those working in the medical field. Many health providers have had to resort to new ways of doing things, such as turning face-to-face meetings with their physicians into online video calls. For patients, the level of care they have been receiving has also been affected. As it is, the quality of healthcare has been diminishing due to the restrictions set in place to address COVID-19, and this is especially true for those who provide or require chronic care.
Access to care is harder
One of the most critical foundations of chronic care is the ability to engage with patients regularly. This way, doctors will be able to figure out what kind of care to offer and to adapt correctly to ensure an effective and speedy recovery. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has made this complicated.
Because of the nature of chronic illnesses, even prior to the pandemic, patients were already having a lot of trouble accessing chronic care. Unfortunately, due to the rise of the coronavirus, this has become increasingly difficult to do, partly due to all the restrictions set in place by the authorities. Some patients have come to think that they are entirely cut off from such care.
What makes this worse is that those who have chronic illnesses are more susceptible to the virus. This is because patients who require chronic care usually have weakened immune systems. In other words, providing care to these individuals is more important than ever, but at the same time, bringing the service to them becomes even more of a challenge.
Chronic care management as the solution
What can doctors do to be able to effectively manage their patients despite the ongoing challenges set in place by the pandemic? A viable solution is chronic care management.
With chronic care management, doctors all around will be able to better offer their services to their patients. This solution is so effective, it is a solution that health providers should consider implementing even when the pandemic is over.
Here are examples of why chronic care management can help greatly in providing access to chronic care treatment:
1. Connects doctors to patients
The best benefit of chronic care management is that doctors can now more easily reach their patients to provide the care they need. For example, they can utilize online video calling methods to carry out their meetings rather than meet their patients in person. While there are still some restrictions to this, such as not being able to carry out the physical tests, engagement is always maintained.
2. Boosts health provider revenue
Many health providers have found that fewer patients have been coming to them for health services. For this reason, revenue has dropped significantly, putting these health institutions into financial trouble. Fortunately, with chronic care management, more patients can reach doctors and vice versa. With continued service, revenue remains consistent. Health providers can grow thanks to the reduction of costs, which then further increases revenue.
Conclusion
Chronic care management is the answer to many health providers’ challenges with the pandemic. It has allowed many to continue engaging with their patients, not only to offer the necessary care to help their patients recover but also to continue earning revenue. In other words, with chronic care management, not only are doctors saving patients lives, but they are saving their practice as well.
If you have not implemented chronic care management in the US, we at Medistics Health highly recommend that you do so. Let us help you simplify your patient’s care today!