‘High-tech, high-touch’ patient care key to improving chronic conditions like Crohn’s
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The prospect of managing a lifelong disease can be daunting, and many patients with chronic conditions struggle with consistent health monitoring, treatment adherence and implementing the changes needed to manage their disease.
From the provider perspective, physicians may have limited visibility into how patients are coping with or adhering to treatment regimens — until they present with an uncontrolled flare that requires more acute intervention. Digital-first solutions enable tackling these challenges with solutions that proactively monitor patient health, improve adherence to physician recommendations and encourage healthy lifestyle changes.
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For management of chronic gastrointestinal conditions like Crohn’s disease, both high-tech (digitally enabled) and high-touch (relationship-based) approaches can play key roles in symptom management. By taking a concierge-based approach to chronic disease, Elevance Health and its subsidiary Carelon are integrating these approaches to help improve care coordination, medication adherence, patient outcomes and quality of life.
Digital-first approach to chronic disease management
The constant wax and wane of symptoms makes many chronic conditions difficult to manage. For example, Crohn’s disease can be highly unpredictable, varying between periods of activity and remission. To get ahead of their symptoms, patients must consistently track flare-ups, work to identify potential triggers and monitor their overall well-being.
Concierge care — a digital-first program offered by Carelon and in collaboration with health plans, like those affiliated with Elevance Health — uses a comprehensive, intuitive app to help eligible individuals manage complex conditions like Crohn’s disease, diabetes and cancer. Through the app, members can log and track their symptoms, which are viewable to their health plan’s care management team. It also provides health plan members curated educational materials and self-directed health exercises based on the individual’s health needs, such breathing or mindfulness exercises.
Technology can enhance patient-provider connection
While digital technologies provide a foundation for better patient engagement and care management, they cannot replace the human elements of health care. Our health is inherently personal, and many patients can feel overwhelmed by the prospect of managing a lifelong disease on their own.
Joliene, a member of one of Elevance Health’s affiliated plans, was all too familiar with the stress and worry that came with her diagnosis when she entered the Crohn’s-specific concierge care program.
Prior to diagnosis, Joliene knew little about the disease and struggled to manage her symptoms as a busy parent and schoolteacher. As she tried to juggle the demands of life and her disease, she experienced depressive symptoms and frustration with seeking answers to her numerous questions and attempts to regain control over her painful symptoms.
Joliene’s story is one echoed by many with chronic conditions. That is why the concierge care program enables patient interaction with a case management team. Through the app, participants have access to health care professionals who can answer their questions and address immediate needs. The team monitors the symptoms reported in the app, and through asynchronous text messaging, case managers can respond to member questions and concerns related to their current symptoms, triggers, medications, mental health, diet and more.
By building trusting relationships with program participants, care managers are best able to meet the unique needs of the individual, sometimes even helping address nonmedical social and economic factors that affect overall health.
For Joliene, the ability to instantly connect with nurse care manager Kelly was a game-changer. The app gave her access to an expert in her pocket, replacing countless hours on the phone and long response times from provider offices and pharmacies. The tools and resources provided in the app, coupled with Kelly’s support, have allowed Joliene to better control her Crohn’s symptoms.
Combining human, digital components has ‘exponential benefits’
As the burden of chronic disease rises worldwide, those of us committed to improving patient health continue to explore, develop and invest in new digitally enabled solutions to address these costly conditions. While technology can play a critical role in helping mitigate the heavy toll of chronic disease, combining the human component with digital solutions has exponential benefits.
Organizations like Elevance Health, its affiliated health plans and its subsidiary Carelon are well-positioned to implement these high-tech, high-touch approaches because of the unique view they have of consumers’ entire health journeys. The work to address unmet health needs requires a collective effort across our industry.
If we work collaboratively and strategically to deploy both technology and a human touch in chronic disease care, we can help close care gaps, drive better long-term health outcomes, lower costs and reduce the burden of disease on patients — as well as on our health care system.
Reference:
- The health benefits and business potential of digital therapeutics. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/life-sciences/our-insights/the-health-benefits-and-business-potential-of-digital-therapeutics. Published Jan. 27, 2023.
Antonio Perez, MD, MBA, FACC, FHFSA, is a director of medical operations at Elevance Health.
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