Patient engagement company GetWellNetwork is taking a crack at re-envisioning healthcare with the introduction of the Interactive Care Model for nursing, a five-phase plan to create patient-centric care delivery systems.
“This new model rethinks care delivery and includes measurement of a person’s capacity to engage in his/her health,” representatives of Bethesda, Maryland-based GetWellNetwork’s O’Neil Center wrote in an article published in the October issue of the Journal of Nursing Administration. The O’Neil Center is tasked with supporting “integration of patient and family engagement into healthcare delivery across the care continuum,” according to GetWellNetwork.
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The model, which the authors said are appropriate for all clinicians, calls on healthcare providers to be capable of:
- Assessing each patient’s capacity for engagement;
- Exchanging information according to patient communication preferences;
- Collaboration and planning between patients and clinicians;
- Determining appropriate health interventions; and
- Evaluating engagement levels and clinical outcomes.
“It offers a proactive approach to successful population health management through self-care. The role of both person and the provider needs to shift to encompass this changing paradigm of person and family engagement,” the article stated.
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“The Interactive Care Model supports the need for integrating patients and families as essential members of the healthcare decision-making team,” O’Neil Center Clinical Advisory Council member Susan Grant explained. “Clinicians must engage in meaningful conversations that address the patient’s needs and concerns, while providing them the tools and resources to manage their health care,” added Grant, who is chief nurse executive at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta.
The ICM has three drivers: patients’ right to autonomy, financial reform and communication between people and their care providers. “In the future, individuals will document information directly into their record, and health technology continues to evolve to allow patient-facing applications,” the authors wrote.
Technology goes beyond electronic health records to include portals, mobile apps, online educational and support resources, patient alerts and health trackers. In fact, in building their model, the researchers excluded studies of technology that only focused on EHRs.
What they are really after, though, is behavior change with the “triple aim” of safer care, improved population health and lower costs in mind. “Clinicians have been educated, trained and socialized to be providers of rather than partners in care. Clinicians must shift their focus to a person-driven care delivery model to fully engage people,” they said [emphasis in original].
The O’Neil Center will test the model and eventually develop research protocols, according to the article. The center is in the process of creating something called the Person Engagement Index to measure success of engagement efforts.
Image: GetWellNetwork
