The Importance of Coordinating Home Based Health and Personal Care Services

07/20/2012

The landscape of healthcare is shifting from hospitals to home. Healthcare studies predict that as much as 30% of today's current hospital services will migrate to the home, where patients can receive treatment and recover in a more familiar, more comfortable environment.

With this shift comes the need to coordinate the services that are administered to home based patients, especially to the elderly, who may require an array of services. These include medical services provided by licensed healthcare professionals, such as skilled nursing, outpatient rehabilitation and social work, combined with personal care provided by non-medical caregivers assisting with activities of daily living. A combination of services can dramatically improve the quality of life of an elderly person in need. Yet the services also present the challenge of administering them in an orderly and efficient manner.

The solution is to assign the coordination and management of all home based services to one source. By having one case manager monitoring all the home based services, the delivery of service can not only become more efficient and safe, but it can also leverage the knowledge, experience and observations that each discipline offers.

Healthcare and personal caregivers are by nature caring and proactive people. When they are brought into a home environment, they will not only conduct their own assigned tasks, but they will see opportunities for additional services that will benefit the patient and their family. With coordinated homecare management, each healthcare professional knows where they can send their observations and suggestions (directly to the case manager) and actions can be taken to provide those additional services, if desired.

This approach promotes "see the need - meet the need" to the home environment, providing a higher level of care to the elderly who prefer to stay in the comforts of their own homes. The coordinated approach also offers a greater sense of relief to family members, such as adult children, who can rely on a trust-worthy central source to provide a broad range of guidance, recommendations and services for their aging parents at home. With the growing trend of shifting health and personal care services to the home, the coordinated approach will provide a more effective health and personal care experience for the elderly and their families.

Editor’s Note: This article was submitted by Kim Trabing, LPN Executive Director at Salus Home Care and Salus Home Health www.salushomecare.com . She may be reached at 801-566-1185 or email:  ktrabing@salushomecare.com