Barriers to Care for Persons With Sickle Cell Disease: The Case Manager's Opportunity to Improve Patient Outcomes

Conclusions: Case managers can serve an important advocacy role and intervene to improve the coordination of services and efficient use of resources. This will lead to improved quality of life and optimal health care utilization for persons with SCD. Implications for Case Management Practice: As a constant member of the health care team, the case manager may be the only health care team member who has a broad knowledge of the patient's experience of acute and chronic pain, usual state of health, social behavioral health needs, and how these factors may affect both inpatient and outpatient health care use and health outcomes. This article explores the barriers to care and suggests specific interventions within the role of the case manager that can improve care delivered and ultimately contribute to improved patient outcomes. Specifically, these interventions can improve communication among members of the health care team. Case manager interventions can guide coordination, prevent hospital readmissions, reduce health care utilization, and contribute to overall improved patient quality of life and health outcomes.
Source: Professional Case Management - Category: Health Management Tags: Articles Source Type: research