Improving the outcomes for patients in our changing healthcare system is not straightforward. This grounding publication on case management helps physicians better meet the unique needs of patients who present with poor health and high healthcare-related costs, i.e., health complexity. It details the many challenges and optimal practices needed to work effectively with various types of case managers to improve patient outcomes. Special attention is given to integrated case management (ICM), specifically designed for those with health complexity. The book provides a systematic method for identifying and addressing the needs of patients with biological, psychological, social, and health-system related clinical and non-clinical barriers to improvement. Through ICM, case managers are trained to conduct relationship-building multidisciplinary comprehensive assessments that allow development of prioritized care plans, to systematically assist patients to achieve and document health outcomes in real time, and then graduate stabilized patients so that others can enter the case management process. Patient-centered practitioner-case manager collaboration is the goal.
This reference provides a lexicon and a roadmap for physicians in working with case managers as our health system explores innovative ways to improve outcomes and reduce health costs for patients with health complexity. An invaluable, gold-standard title, it adds to the literature by capturing the authors’ personal experiences as clinicians, researchers, teachers, and consultants. The Physician’s Guide: Understanding and Working With Integrated Case Managers summarizes how physicians and other healthcare leadership can successfully collaborate with case managers in delivering a full package of outcome changing and cost reducing assistance to patients with chronic, treatment resistant, and multimorbid conditions.
