Ways to Increase Patient Retention with CCM

Patient retention is one of the top measures of overall patient engagement and satisfaction with a healthcare provider. Effectively retained patients are in uninterrupted, meaningful relationships between providers and their patients, which equates to better long-term clinical outcomes and better quality of care.

Foster Patient Autonomy via Active Participation

Engagement is one of the significant means to strengthen patient retention. A CCM program’s very personalized and standard services may assist you to activate and retain patients under your care.

When patients feel their actions help diminish discomfort and stress, achieve better clinical outcomes, and increase an enjoyable quality of life, they are more likely to be active in their care journey. This has been reported in a broad spectrum of chronic diseases, ranging from diabetes to coronary disease to rheumatoid arthritis. Research shows that activated patients who are eager and forward-leaning when they interact with the healthcare system tend to also have lower costs in terms of healthcare, as well as better-quality care.

Strengthen Customer Relationships with Regular Monthly Outreach

Taking care of patients outside the walls of your practice is a powerful means of staying connected with patients and, therefore, increasing patient loyalty. Imagine that the amount of your practice that a patient comes in contact with (and, perhaps, the healthcare system in general) is limited to a few visits per year. If that is the case, they may be more inclined to look for your competitors.
Nevertheless, once they interact with your practice on a monthly basis, this equates to at least twelve extra touchpoints on a yearly calendar basis. CCM services demand that care managers spend at least 20 minutes of clinical staff time per month on each enrolled patient.

Support Patients in Navigating Healthcare and Community Assistance Programs

CCM care managers are ready to observe and remove barriers that patients face when accessing care through their normal communication pace. If left unresolved, these barriers may result in patients missing screenings that could save their lives, stopping needed medications, or avoiding medical procedures to channel their scarce income toward food and shelter. This may lead to the deterioration of treatable and preventable conditions, the speeding up of chronic illness, and reduced quality of life for patients.

Educate Patients about their Conditions

When patients are made to understand the complexity of their chronic conditions and are provided with workable and productive ways of self-managing, they are likely to remain engaged in their care journey. Offering patients continual education on their diagnoses and medications, and lifestyle risk factors, is one of the most effective ways of ensuring that they become more engaged.

If patients only visit their primary care providers once or twice a year, they have very few opportunities to ask them questions. When a patient is contacted monthly by a care manager, this is equal to at least twelve extra opportunities for that patient to increase his/her health literacy during the year.

24/7 Access to a Nurse Care Line

Such constant access to medical advice and insight is phenomenal as a means of incentivizing patient retention. Patients will no longer need to worry about online information being alarmist and incorrect. Besides, the availability of the nurse care line 24/7/365 means that no patient is ever left on their own in his/her care journey. Regardless of the size or seriousness of their problem, they are instantly connected with a medical professional who is ready to help them.

Reductions in Hospital Admissions

Well-implemented CCM reduces the number of patients being admitted to the hospital. CCM’s focus on proactive and preventive care makes patients seek to manage health risks early. This usually translates to patients handling conditions before they get into an emergency.

Effective CCM decreases the number of patients who are admitted to the hospital. The CCM’s emphasis on proactive and preventive care causes patients to want to manage health risks early. This often means that patients manage conditions before they land in an emergency.

Healthcare Cost Reduction for Patients

Chronic Care Management services have a strategic focus on an acute population at risk of becoming high utilizers of the healthcare system. Most patients with multiple chronic conditions are at risk of too many or unnecessary medical interventions between visits of their providers if their conditions are not well managed. These risk factors can be reduced by such deliberate wellness planning and a continuous communication cycle that will end up saving patients money.

Ensure Continuous, Integrated Care across Healthcare Providers

When patients are treated for many chronic ailments, they tend to see many healthcare experts from many healthcare organizations and networks. If information is not communicated through these channels, it leaves care coordination with gaps. This can result in patients paying for unnecessary tests, over-utilization of drugs, and unnecessary hospitalization and admission to care facilities. Patience, confusion, frustration, and disengagement with the healthcare system and your practice are caused by gaps in care.

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