Health Coaches Curb Costs of Care
Limited patient education and skyrocketing costs of chronic care drive professionals and policymakers to explore alternative means of efficient healthcare. Enter health coaches: integral players helping patients with chronic conditions to take charge of their treatment. Coaches work to empower patients by creating personalized programs and encouraging appropriate medical decisions that reduce excessive expenditure.
Manasquan, NJ (PRWEB) June 14, 2005 -
Limited patient education and skyrocketing costs of chronic care drive professionals and policymakers to explore alternative means of efficient healthcare. Enter health coaches: integral players helping patients with chronic conditions to take charge of their treatment. Coaches work to empower patients by creating personalized programs and encouraging appropriate medical decisions that reduce excessive expenditure. In an industry that craves such cost-cutting endeavors, health coaches pose a viable solution for optimal outcomes in disease management.
A 35-page special report, “Health Coaches: Scoring Big Gains in Disease Management ROI,” produced by the Healthcare Intelligence Network (HIN) considers the role of health coaches in improving industrial efficiency through patient education. The report highlights how health coaches motivate patients to become confident and constructive healthcare consumers by promoting self-management and awareness. For more information, please visit the HIN bookstore.
According to co-author Danielle Butin, health promotion manager at Oxford Health Plans in New York, invaluable industrial benefits emerge from this proactive program, including:
• Reducing utilization claims;
• Improving overall longevity and quality of life;
• Limiting condition-related complications;
• Targeting universal issues in healthcare;
• Providing access to new treatment developments;
• Offering social support networks; and
• Empowering patients with skills to self-manage chronic conditions.
“Our whole goal is to prevent migration to case management,” added co-author Roger Reed, executive vice president and chief health officer at Gordian Health Solutions in Tennessee. “Incrementally, if you can save money on 95 percent of the people, even if it’s a nickel, it generates a lot more savings.”
Cultural diversification, widening social strata and explosive technology pose new challenges for the continually evolving healthcare industry. Such encompassing trends demand novel approaches and renewed vigor for efficiency, efficacy and education. Health coaches have emerged as an avenue by which aspiring organizations can enhance cost-effectiveness and patient and provider satisfaction.
“Connecting to clients and being present 100 percent of the time while working with them is critical,” said co-author Kerry Little, senior health coach at Duke Center for Integrative Medicine at Duke University Medical System. “Our goal for them is to become self-sufficient, and so although we’re developing this relationship, we’re also moving them forward and challenging them to find their own answers.”
This comprehensive report, available in print and Adobe® Acrobat® PDF formats, offers detailed descriptions of health coach merits and objectives; tips on motivating and training health coaches; defining health coach responsibilities; keeping members in coaching programs, and coaching for specific diseases and diverse populations. For more information on this product, upcoming audio conferences and related resources, please visit the HIN bookstore.
About the Healthcare Intelligence Network:
HIN is the premier advisory service for executives seeking high-quality strategic information on the business of healthcare. For more information, contact the Healthcare Intelligence Network, PO Box 1442, Wall Township, NJ 07719-1442, (888) 446-3530, fax (732) 292-3073, e-mail info@hin. com, or visit http://www. hin. com (http://www. hin. com).
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