Case Management: Mayo Clinics Case Management Program (Essay Sample)

Case Management
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Institutional Affiliation
Case Management
Medical case management refers to a collaborative process that aids recommended treatment strategies to ensure that proper medical care is provided to the ill, the disabled, or the injured. It is the appropriate planning and organization of health care services to attain the medical rehabilitation goal (McCarthy, Mueller & Wrenn, 2009). It includes care assessment, coordination and implementation of medical care plans, and assessment of treatment results. Case management is a critical aspect of coordinated health care. In Mayo Clinic, medical case managements plays a significant role in improving the efficiency and quality of health care, besides improving public health and preventing chronic diseases.
1. Mayo Clinic’s Case Management Program
The Mayo Clinic is the largest and oldest integrated multispecialty group of medical practice in the world. It combines clinical practice, research, and education at regional, national, as well as international ranks for the benefit of patients with both routine and complex health care needs (Lyons et. al., 2000). Mayo’s case management program includes information continuity, system accountability and continuous innovation, easy access to appropriate care, and teamwork for high-value care.
Information Continuity
The clinic pride in an EHR accessible by each and every clinician at all the clinic sites, having cross-site linkages that are web-based. Mayo Clinic also has an HER portal for referring doctors to upload information about patients and receiving results of patient visits (McCarthy, Mueller & Wrenn, 2009). Moreover, the clinic boasts of a clinic-wide telephonic paging system that allows for rapid consultations. The clinic is also currently developing improved decision support tools as well as the patient portal.
System Accountability
In Mayo clinic, every patient has consigned a coordinating doctor who ensures there is a suitable care plan, that the client receives clear communication all the time, and that additional services, as well as consultations, are programmed promptly. Plans are also underway to adjust outpatient visits with the aim of increasing time with patients by using midlevel physicians, with electronic communication to engage clients in self-care during the visits (McCarthy, Mueller & Wrenn, 2009). Mayo health system has also established a population-based initiative of care management for diabetic patients. This system broadens the customary patient-visit pattern to incorporate telephonic programs to patients who do not make regular visits. Additionally, the clinic has implemented pre-visit plans to identify patient needs. It has also emulated schedule laboratory testing as well as patient training and follow-up to encourage treatment observance between visits.
Teamwork for High-Value Care
Mayo’s Clinical Practice Committee is liable for the quality of care at all Mayo Clinic sites. The responsibility of the committee includes distribution of expert-developed medical protocols. The clinic also prides of a Systemwide medical practice advisory group that resolves protocols across sites besides being responsible for overall system quality (Lyons et. al., 2000). Furthermore, the EHR is accessible to all accredited Mayo physicians and welcomes comment and collaboration from all care team members.
Easy Access to Appropriate Care
Patient scheduling system in Mayo Clinic uses algorithms to dispense new patients to the medical doctor and coordinate a patient’s time at the Clinic. According to Lyons et. al. (2000), this system takes into consideration the patient’s availability, laboratory tests and procedures, and the specific time for consultations, hence ensuring quality medical care.
2. Mayo Clinic’s Case Management Program vs. Model facility
Mayo’s case management practice adheres to the ideal health care delivery system since it fosters peer accountability and team-oriented patient care. Besides, the clinic has a supportive infrastructure that allows physicians as well as other caregivers to shine at clinical work (Lyons et. al., 2000). The clinic also boasts of a governance structure led by a physician, which promotes patient-centered culture. The full integration of the clinic and hospital and the use of joint electronic medical records across outpatient and inpatient settings have been key to fostering clinical excellence and realizing efficiencies. Mayo also promotes a learning environment whereby teams of health professionals uphold systems engineering and information technology to learn collectively and improve care as per the clinical practices.
Like an ideal health care delivery system that fosters information continuity, mayo clinic ensures that all the clinically relevant information for patients are available to all health care providers and patients via electronic health record system. The clinic also embraces system accountability, a key aspect of a model health care system, by coordinating patient care among several providers, while actively managing transitions across care settings (McCarthy, Mueller & Wrenn, 2009). Typical of an ideal healthcare system, mayo clinic ensures that patients easily access appropriate care and relevant information at all hours. Importantly, health care providers in mayo clinic are culturally competent and also responsive to the needs of patients.
3. Mayo Clinic’s Quality Assurance Program
Mayo clinic views quality as a comprehensive look at all matters about a patient's experience. Patients in this clinic seek excellence in care, clinical knowledge, technology, and experience.
Mayo Clinic assesses quality by examining outcome measures, patient satisfaction, process measures, and quality rankings. Outcome measures refer to results-oriented measures. They include mortality ratio, readmission rates, patient safety indicators, and quality transplant indicators (McCarthy, Mueller & Wrenn, 2009). Process measures, on the other hand, are used to assess whether a health...