When Katie Ross launched a Connected Care service at DENT Neurologic Institute, over 1000 patients joined within the first 48 hours. “When you hear ‘a thousand patients’, at least from my operational mind, that sounds like a lot of work that somebody needs to do,” said Ross, the Director of Clinical Operations.
And she’s not alone – when neurology practices start offering Connected Care from Phamily, they typically see these enrollment numbers. Neurology patients want and need easily-accessible support between visits.
That may sound scary. But don’t worry – we’ve got you. Phamily offers three different staffing strategies to help your practice cost-effectively and profitably manage this demand.
Neurology patients often grapple with chronic conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and epilepsy that often have complex treatment regimens.
These conditions don’t take breaks between medical visits. Symptoms can flare up unexpectedly, and medications often require careful monitoring and frequent adjustments. Patients and their caregivers need continuous support to manage symptoms, adjust medications, and navigate day-to-day challenges.
With Connected Care, patients and caregivers can get help when they need it most—whether it’s a quick question about a new symptom, advice on medication side effects, or support in managing daily activities. This kind of support can make a huge difference in preventing hospitalizations and emergency room visits, keeping patients healthier and more stable. This is especially important with dementia patients, for whom the stress of hospitalization can cause a decline in function that lasts long after the patient is discharged.
So how can providers find Chronic Care Management staff to meet the between-visit needs of all the patients with who need care and support?
Regardless of staffing strategy, a successful Connected Care program empowers care managers with technology that makes them 10x more efficient at Chronic Care Management.. This enables an increase in panel size, with each care manager able to deliver high-quality proactive care to 500 patients (versus 50-100 under a traditional model).
Neurology practices can successfully staff Chronic Care Management programs in three different ways:
Patients are already calling your clinical staff with questions and concerns between visits. When you launch your Phamily CCM program, you can move one or two staff over to field text-based patient needs – 10x more efficiently. With purpose-built tools, they can be more productive and spend more time on patient care (versus administrative tasks), with highly-compliant documentation to support Medicare reimbursement requirements.
CCM’s popularity among neurology patients means that sometimes neurology practices will need to hire additional care managers. .Many practices worry about bringing on additional staff — but find that an investment in hiring a new care manager has a 30-60 day payback. Phamily experts can help you scope the role appropriately and hire the right person for your practice.
Practices that have less than 1,500 unique Medicare and Medicare Advantage patients may be better fit for a full-service, turnkey solution. That’s when a trusted partner can be invaluable – but quality is key.
Your practice’s most valuable asset? Your patient relationships. If you are going to outsource Chronic Care Management, make sure you are working with a trusted partner who will integrate into your practice workflows seamlessly, deliver high-quality care, and care about your patients as much as you do.
Sweeten Health’s nurse care managers use the Phamily platform to take a significant load off of smaller practices. Their experienced team manages patient interactions and care coordination in close collaboration with the practice. Your in-house staff can focus on in-office care while your external team handles between-visit support.
Whichever approach you choose, Phamily can help your neurology practice launch a successful, high-volume Connected Care service within 90 days.
The Phamily CCM approach enables practices to easily cover their labor costs and reinvest in additional staff to ease the burden on overworked providers. By billing for services that were previously provided for free, practices can fund high-quality, proactive between-visit care.
Neurology patients and caregivers need this care – and now practices can provide it without overwhelming their staff. Download our newest whitepaper to learn more, with practical insights from Savannah Neurology (16 providers, Savannah GA) and DENT Neurologic Institute (73 providers, Buffalo NY).
Whitepaper
“How do I staff my Chronic Care Management program?” is one of the biggest questions we hear from neurology practice administrators and managing partners. Here are our five recommendations – plus insights from program champions at DENT Neurologic Institute (78 providers – Buffalo NY) and Savannah Neurology Specialists (16 providers – Savannah GA).
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