A new Harvard Business Review article on “The Value of Teaching Patients to Administer Their Own Care” includes an example of a self-care dialysis program at the Central Texas Nephrology Associates clinic in Waco, Texas. Some excerpts:
- “In 2016, nearly 40% of CTNA’s 751 patients performed their own dialysis while experiencing fewer hospitalizations and a lower mortality rate than patients receiving dialysis the conventional way. Patients delivering their own dialysis experienced better outcomes and the health system minimized costs by avoiding unnecessary hospital visits.”
- The “Providers’ role changed from performing every step of the process to serving as coaches and supporters of patients doing their own care. The resulting redeployment of staff resources led to higher productivity and throughput for the clinic.”
- “Regardless of the setting, a successful approach to patient-administered self-care requires the following:
- “Patients or caregivers must be prepared and willing… Care organizations need to develop a standard process for training patients… Practitioners must be trained to support patient-administered care, …to see themselves as coaches and the patient as an integral partner, …[to] recognize that patients’ capabilities to provide their own care may differ and evolve over time, and …to connect with the patient…
- “A standard protocol should be developed [including] …methods for distributing equipment, supplies, and medication …how patients and providers should respond to adverse events …easy access to outpatient and inpatient services to address any needs that arise.
- “A care organization that has [an outcome]-based-payment system will have a much easier time adopting the self-care model …Patient-administered care realizes savings by avoiding spending in the first place; in a fee-for-service model, this is lost revenue.”
Find the article at https://hbr.org/2017/06/the-value-of-teaching-patients-to-administer-their-own-care .
