The goal is to help patients stay healthier between doctor visits, and avoid pricey hospitals and nursing homes.
“We all need care coordination. Medicare patients need it more than ever,” said Sean Cavanaugh, deputy administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
About two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries have two or more chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease or kidney disease. Their care is infamously fragmented. They tend to visit numerous doctors for different illnesses.
Too often, no one oversees their overall health – making sure multiple treatments don’t mix badly, that X-rays and other tests aren’t repeated just because one doctor didn’t know another already had ordered them, and that nothing falls between the cracks.