Does clinical coordination improve quality and save money? A review of the evidence – The Health Foundation – June 2011
Does clinical coordination improve quality and save money? A review of the evidence – The Health Foundation – June 2011
Author: Dr John Øvretveit
“This report examines the evidence for the extent to which poor coordination contributes to poor quality outcomes for patients and the approaches to clinical coordination which are shown to improve care and whether these can reduce costs.
Background
As healthcare and payments become more fragmented, and resources become fewer, there is a greater emphasis on improving the value of healthcare services through reducing costs while maintaining or improving quality.
Providers may focus more on their part of the care pathway and less on passing on information and adjusting their work around the total care of the patient. Without coordination, adverse events and poor quality can increase, adding costs and then leading to bureaucracy to enforce procedures which do not solve the problems of under-coordination.
Evidence that clinical coordination improves quality and saves costs
The review concludes that greater coordination of care has the potential to reduce costs and should be a major consideration for how to improve quality and save money in the current funding situation. However, while better process coordination could release significant savings, these approaches also have high risks and costs.”
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