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September 12, 2019 | The Positive Impact of CCM: For Health Systems

Dealing with chronic illness presents unique challenges for healthcare providers and patients alike. The final installment of this blog series provides an overview of the positive impact of chronic care management (CCM) has on large health systems.

Health systems, or networks of providers operating under one umbrella, can be very intimidating for patients. It can particularly affect those who grew up with one family physician providing all of their care.  Difficulty scheduling office visits or reaching their provider can cause stress for patients who require a lot of care like those dealing with chronic conditions.

Improving the Patient Experience

Wellbox nurses act as care navigators for the patients that need it the most, providing a positive healthcare experience while keeping patients engaged in their own health.  How do we know? Wellbox patients report a 90%+ patient satisfaction rate, get 2-3x more flu shots and vaccines and 2x more annual wellness visits.  Our registered nurses provide high-quality interactions that require no technology adoption by the provider or the patient. This makes it easier to engage and easier to succeed. In addition to financial and clinical concerns, living with chronic conditions adversely impacts the quality of life.  By helping patients better manage their care, CCM optimizes outcomes for both health systems and patients alike. CCM participants receive:

• An additional health resource for questions and concerns
• Coordinated care that ensures all providers can gain access to a full picture of patient health and concerns
• Recommendations for social services that address personal roadblocks and challenges (ability to get to appointments, eat healthy, etc.)
• Recommendations for health services to better manage self-care and health risks (annual wellness visits, flu shots, foot exams, etc)
• Disease and medication education resources that allows them to better understand their own health

Improving Clinical Outcomes

In a third-party study completed at a current partner, it was found that Wellbox patients use unnecessary emergency care 60-70% less than similar patients who opted not to participate in CCM.  Consistent monthly touchpoints improve our ability to catch potential risks and new health concerns earlier and direct them to the provider in a timely and appropriate manner.  This has helped us make an impact on unnecessary emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

Quality Improvement

In addition to patient engagement and clinical outcomes, the Wellbox CCM program can help meet 60 MACRA MIPS measures. It includes 25 high-priority measures, in all six of the Quality Measure domains and 35 clinical improvement activity measures, including 4 high-priority activities, in 7 subcategories.  We think of this as an added bonus for “doing well by” your patients!