Easing Chronic Disease Through Patient-Centered Care

New Skills for the Care Coordination Team

The challenge of living with chronic illness isn't always apparent to the patient when first diagnosed. It takes time for the patient to understand their illness, the treatment options available, and how living with the aftermath of catastrophic or chronic illness will affect the patient’s life and the lives of those close to them.    

Today, with a focus on patient-centered care, safe transitions of care, and strategies to educate and empower patients to be engaged in their care, professionals at the point of care are beginning to understand how to better prepare patients and their families to face the challenges of living with a chronic disease and providing the tools that allow them to reach their maximum potential and live a quality life. 

The Case In Point Webinar series brings together three leading professionals to share their expertise and insights on how professionals responsible for care coordination can better understand the unique challenges of patients with chronic conditions, and learn what new strategies and skills they can implement into their practice to be better equipped when working with patients with chronic illness.  

Continuing education credits have been applied for nurses, case managers, social workers and disability management specialists.

About the Webinar

In the United States, 125 million people are living with chronic illnesses, disability or functional limitations. Caring for patients with chronic illnesses is different from caring for patients with episodic illnesses. Patients with chronic health problems need care that is coordinated across time and centered on their needs, values and preferences. They need self -management skills to ensure the prevention of predictable complications, and they need professionals who understand the fundamental difference between episodic illness that is identified and cured, and chronic conditions that require management across many years. 

According a report from the World Health Organization, “Preparing a Health Care Workforce for the 21st century: The Challenge of Chronic Conditions”, today’s health care workforce is one of the most important factors in the health care system. Health care professionals are instrumental in stimulating, creating and maintaining health care improvement.  Yet, the rapidly shifting balance between acute and chronic health is placing new and different demands on the health care workforce. The reports shows that there is general consensus that to provide effective health care for chronic conditions, the skills of health professionals must be expanded to meet these new complexities. This expansion does not invalidate the need for existing competencies, such as the practice of evidence-based and ethical care. Rather, it underscores the growing need for new competencies to complement existing ones. New competencies include:

• The needs to organize care around the patient, i.e. to adopt a patient-centered approach as opposed to the existing provider-centered approach we currently have in place.
• Improve communication skills that enable them to collaborate with others. They need not only partner with patients, but work closely with other providers, and educate employers and communities to understand that patients with chronic conditions have more abilities than disabilities.
• Ensure that the safety and quality of patient care is continuously improved.
• Develop needed skills that assist professionals in monitoring patients across time, and using and sharing with patients, so they are prepared to take greater responsibility.
• Develop skills that assist professionals in monitoring patients across time, and using and sharing information through available technology.
• Consider patient care and the provider’s role in that care from the broadest perspective, including population-based care, the multiple levels of the health care system and the care continuum.

Program Objectives

• Provide an overview and background of the current state of care coordination.
• Learn from a person who has learned to live and thrive personally and professionally with a chronic condition.
• Describe the role of the care coordination team and the importance of working collaboratively with all members of the patient centered care team.
   

Our Webinar Will Answer These Questions

• Why is a change from provider-focused care to patient-centered care needed?
• What are some of the challenges patients with chronic disease face that the healthcare team could better address?
• How can the healthcare team utilize their expertise to empower patients to manage challenges of dealing with chronic conditions?
• How can employer and community leaders be better informed to consider the abilities vs. disabilities for consumers with chronic conditions?
• How can case/care managers improve their practices to meet the needs of patients and families with chronic disease?
• How can patients and families better advocate for themselves?

Speakers

	Jennifer Christian, MD, MPH President, Webility Corporation; Founder, 60 Summits Project
	Rosalind Joffe, MEd Chronic Illness Career Coach; Founder & President, cicoach.com
	Susan Isernhagen, PT Founder, DSI Work Solutions
	Moderator: Anne Llewellyn RN-BC, MS, BHSA, CCM, CRRN Editor in Chief, Case Management Products Dorland Health, a Division of Access Intelligence

Who Should Attend

• Behavioral Health Professionals
• Clinical Nurses
• Case/Care Managers
• Discharge Planners
• Directors
• Disability Professionals
• Employers
• Employee Assistance Providers
• Geriatric Care Managers
• Healthcare Educators
• Human Resource Specialist
• Medical Directors
• Medical Management Supervisors
• Medical Providers
• Nurse Practitioners
• Office Nurses
• Patient Advocates
• Physicians (in all specialties)
• Physician Assistants
• Rehabilitation Professionals
• Social Workers