For patients struggling with multiple chronic conditions or battling a life-limiting illness, Healing Care’s Supportive Palliative Care program offers an extra layer of support. Our goal is to improve our patients’ quality of life and help them avoid unnecessary hospital visits by quickly addressing treatable exacerbations and/or filling gaps in care.
Supportive Palliative Care is focused on:
- Symptom management to promote comfort.
- Ongoing disease education, decision support, and advanced care planning to help patients and families make well-informed health care decisions that align with their goals, values, and beliefs.
- Case management to help patients stay on track with their treatment plan.
Symptom Management
Admission into our Supportive Palliative Care program begins with an extensive initial home visit from a provider, typically a nurse practitioner, who conducts a comprehensive assessment, reviews all recent available medical records, and takes a complete history of the patient. This initial home visit sets the stage for subsequent monthly provider visits, which help us to keep track of the patient’s progress.
If the patient is experiencing any symptoms, our Provider immediately develops a plan of care to address those symptoms timely. If appropriate, our Provider writes prescriptions for medications to alleviate symptoms. Additionally, our Provider can write a referral to a specialist — such as for a cardiologist, urologist, or pulmonologist — thus eliminating the need to see the patient’s Primary Care Physician for a referral.
If the patient would benefit from other services that are available from the patient’s health plan, such as home health care, durable medical equipment, or labs, our Provider can also, write an order for these services.
To help expedite the process, our Patient Care Coordinator obtains authorizations from the patient’s health plan for specialist appointments, home health care, durable medical equipment, or labs.
24/7 Support Available
Day or night, the patient or family can speak to a nurse about their concerns. If necessary, we can send a nurse to the home to help manage symptoms or to avoid a hospitalization.
Disease Education
Our Provider and Patient Care Coordinator spend as much time as is necessary with the patient and the family to ensure that they understand the disease process and what the patient is likely to experience over time.
Explanation of Treatment Options
In addition to discussing the patient’s disease process, our Provider and Patient Care Coordinator will help the patient and family understand the treatment decisions that are available to the patient and help weigh the costs, risks, and benefits of the available treatment options.
Medication Management & Reconciliation
Our Provider will review all of the medications that the patient is currently taking to avoid potentially harmful drug interactions and to minimize polypharmacy, which is the accumulation of multiple medications in the patient’s care plan to treat the same ailment.
Advanced Care Planning
These discussions support advanced care planning, which is the process by which patients can describe and document the type of medical care they want, or do not want, in the future. Additionally, patients typically appoint an individual to make decisions on their behalf when they are no longer able to speak for themselves, so they can have the peace of mind that their wishes will be honored.
Weekly Wellness Calls
Our Patient Care Coordinator will contact the patient on a weekly basis to check in. These regular check-ins are critical because they allow us to catch any change in conditions, symptoms, or needs that could result in an exacerbation of symptoms. These calls also allow us to ensure that the patient is remaining compliant with their care plan.
Emergency Medication Refills
Unfilled medications can lead ton unnecessary exacerbations and even hospitalizations. The patient or family can call our office anytime to request emergency medication refills, which we will complete in a timely manner to avoid any gaps in care.
Assistance with Specialist Coordination, DME, and Home Health Care
As mentioned, if our Provider feels that the patient may benefit from a specialist visit, durable medical equipment, home health care, or labs, our Provider will place an order in the patient’s chart for these services. Our Patient Care Coordinator will request authorizations from the patient’s health plan to ensure that the patient receives these services in a timely manner.