Added January 4, 2018

When a patient gets discharged from your care facility, you might think the job is done. Some items you might consider while evaluating the way you delivered care might include the change in the patient’s condition, the quality of care delivered, the friendliness of the care team, and the patient’s experience at the hospital. With all those boxes checked, it may feel like your job is completed. Unfortunately, if you stop there, the most important part of care is getting neglected.

Today, the care happening after discharge and in-between visits will determine the patient experience and the quality of care received.

The most important part of care happens when the patient is at home. During this critical time in the care continuum, the care provided at the hospital is either getting adopted and the patient is getting better or the patient is stagnating, rejecting care, and putting themselves into a position to require additional care in the future including costly readmissions.

Make the Patient’s Home the Focus of Your Care

Having the transition of care into the patient’s home the focus of care delivery can change the “why” of a behavioral health hospital or an acute care hospital. The purpose of a hospital is to enable their patients to live happy healthier lives. This includes empowering patients to change habits and overcome unhealthy physical or mental behaviors.

Patients who can get their condition under control from their own lifestyle changes can easily manage their care from the comfort of their own home. The “why” of providing care should be patient empowerment.

Empower Patients to Manage Their Own Care

Patients themselves are the most important asset in healthcare. Individual patients are often forgotten, and one-size fits all care plans and discharge plans take precedence. This provides mediocre one-size-fits-all results. Care providers can empower individual patients through:

• Providing patients with a focused individual plan of attack
• Continuing individual patient-to-care team conversations
• Empowering patients through personalized care education
• Giving patients the tools to own their own care

Promote Lasting Patient Experience

The patient’s experience with your hospital doesn’t end upon discharge. When care is taken into the home of the patient, they can feel the support of your care team, and a lasting patient experience is created. Hospitals who focus on out-of-hospital care management for the home are creating long-term patient experiences. These patient experiences will provide the greatest dividend to the hospital from patient loyalty to patient promotion to ultimately better outcomes.