Patient Navigation and Community Health Work in Colorado
Program Director,
The Colorado School of Public Health
Patient Navigation (PN) and Community Health Work (CHW) are two distinctive areas of the health care work force that have received a lot of attention and focus over the last several years; particularly with ACA implementation, call for increase in patient engagement, team based care initiatives, and improvement in quality standards.
PNs and CHWs have specific roles and scope of practice with a mission to work in and with the community and/or medical setting to improve health. The literature and data suggests that PN and CHW do make an impact in improve health outcomes.
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| Neighborhood Leaders in Change |
Creating Something Out of Nothing: South Metro Transitions
By: Stephanie Spriggs
Grant Writer and Report Specialist, CIVHC
"Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much"
- Helen Keller
The word "vulnerable" can describe many different types of populations - from those with limited access to care or lack of insurance, to those with a language barrier or new to the United States. The South Metro Health Alliance (SMHA) evolved as the health and wellness arm of the Littleton Immigrant Integration Initiative, an organization dedicated to making a new country feel like home to recently relocated individuals.
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 Chronic Care Management: 4 Steps to Implementation By Debra Beaulieu-Volk
From Fierce Practice Management, 3.2015
Implementing the new Medicare Chronic Care Management codes can be challenging. Problems with IT, infrastructure, and the need for additional staff to manage the process are just some of the obstacles practices encounter. Looking at all of the necessary steps to implementation can help ease the process.
Full Article
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 Patient Navigation Eases Clinical Workforce Challenges-Without Clinical Expertise
From Accenture, 2014
Patient navigators are a new addition to the health care workforce that is helping with non-clinical duties such as supporting patient communication and helping patients navigate the financial and logistical challenges of the health care system. The additional support from patient navigators is helping patients make significant strides in adherence and wellness.
Full Article
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Hospitals Press for Relief From Medicare Readmission Penalty
By Kerry Young
From RollCall.com, 3.2015
A new bill introduced in both the House and Senate (HR 1343, S 688) would amend the current hospital readmission calculation to take the socioeconomic status of the patient population into account when calculating readmission rates for Medicare penalties.
HR 1343
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Achieving Health Equity by Design
By: Winston F. Wong, MD, MS, Thomas A. LaVeist, PhD, Joshua M. Sharfstein, MD
From JAMA, 3.2015
Since the Institute of Medicine called attention to the role of equity in ensuring health care quality, many health care organizations have pursued broad initiatives such as establishing medical homes, implementing electronic medical records, and eliminating hospital-acquired infections to try to improve equity in service provision
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Beginning June 2015, Healthy Transitions Colorado is hosting a series of three symposia focused on key aspects of Care Transitions:
- June 26th - Building Transitions from the Inside Out
- October 16th - Nurturing Community Collaboration
- January 15th - Fostering Patient and Family Engagement
Watch this space for updates!
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Be our Expert: Passionate about care transitions? Implementing innovative interventions? Share the work you're doing by writing a blog for our From the Experts section in the newsletter! Let others know what you've been doing and what kind of success you've had improving transitions of care. Please contact us for more information.
Share your stories: Sharing stories can lead to positive change. Tell us about your experience as a provider, patient or caregiver and inspire others to make changes and help find new ways to improve care across Colorado. Submit stories here for inclusion on the HTC site.
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