Introduction
A gap in quality-related care coordination for individuals with chronic illness has embellished a heightened concern in healthcare organizations and the contemporary world. I believe empathy is a gap in quality-related care coordination for individuals with chronic diseases. Numerous individuals cannot acquire genuine care to manage their chronic illnesses and are non-compliant for multiple reasons. This can be due to a lack of health insurance/coverage, transportation challenges, educational/language barriers, patient beliefs vs. evidence-based facts, and a shortage of physicians and medical facilities within the community/population. This gap in healthcare, being unable to manage chronic illnesses properly, can result in a lack of empathy for the patient.
Healthcare is essential for everyone, even though not everyone can access adequate healthcare. Gaps in healthcare organizations call attention to the inconsistency in healthcare access, healthcare necessities, and healthcare assistance when differentiating contrasting communities/populations. This includes the uninsured, rural people, racial minorities, economically challenged individuals, and the elderly. Individuals in these communities have numerous socioeconomic factors negating them, which promote a higher portion of chronic illnesses. For example, these individuals have lower education levels than their counterparts in other areas of the country, resulting in lower income, meaning many lives below the national poverty level (Oates et al., 2017). In addition, individuals lack health insurance coverage because of financial expenses, whether offered through their workplace or out of pocket. Insurance companies can establish restrictions (co-pays, in/out of network physicians) on which physicians can be seen according to the provided coverage policies. This allows the instigation of individuals with healthcare coverage to ignore routine care and only seek care as a necessity.
The ability to access quality care should include whether it is available, timely and convenient, and affordable. There are consequences due to the gap in healthcare, and it affects the quality of care for the chronically ill. There are potential implications of this gap in access that are not addressed; as individuals with chronic illnesses increase, this will lead to a rise in death rates. The goal of improving the health of individuals in the most disadvantaged communities/populations improves health overall. Addressing the inconsistency in healthcare is valuable for an individual, allowing overall substantial-quality care improvement.
Existing Initiative
Addressing Gap
A developing initiative called Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) aims to close the gaps in chronic illness care coordination by providing patients with a mobile app. An interprofessional team led by physicians, advanced technology, and an around-the-clock approach to care transitions and chronic service impediments are all part of the program’s goal. As stated by KFF.org, the action plan establishes a few objectives and measures to reach the goal of eliminating health and healthcare inequalities in the United States. As a result, there are more alternatives for low- and moderate-income people to get insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Goals
The primary purpose of MIH is to fill the gaps in community health, EMS, and post-acute care by utilizing the core capabilities of clinical professionals in the community. MIH provides home and mobile health care, risk management, and telemedicine (Kralik et al., 2018). For instance, resources are put up in various areas to provide an efficient and rapid reaction. In addition, the availability of resources is tracked 24/7 to guarantee that resources are available in specified locations and that clinicians are protected from harm (Kralik et al., 2018). For those suffering from chronic conditions like diabetes or heart disease, HHS is taking the lead in improving their health outcomes and results. This paper provides details on strengthening health and public health systems, teaching individuals to use self-management, and enabling providers with the thorough tools issuance. Further, this work provides information and interventions the medical practitioners need and supports research about individuals with MCC and effective interventions.
Development
Even though the healthcare improvement program has resulted in positive changes, continual communication difficulties and inadequacies continue to obstruct the healthcare system’s improvement efforts of higher excellence in healthcare systems. Additionally, this has made it difficult to realize a better-quality population at a lower overall cost for the patients and the caregivers. The various interrelated barriers to advancement are evident for patients who suffer from various chronic ailments, which makes sense given their circumstances (Kralik et al., 2018). Communication challenges and poor integration of communication tools during care transition among practitioners cause delays inappropriate healthcare services provided to vulnerable patients and their caregivers. This has raised costs and reduced positive health outcomes for these patients and their caregivers. Furthermore, the healthcare system in the United States is highly fragmented, which has resulted in a gap in the provision of high-quality care for patients suffering from chronic diseases.
According to the Department of Health, chronic sickness in the United States is rising. The aging of the population is expected to significantly exacerbate the social burden, especially among the older generation. These ailments include hypertension, HIV/AIDS, heart disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory problems, arthritis, and asthma. These days, healthcare is characterized by age, who are often the sufferers of chronic diseases that have similar causes and significantly impact their daily lives (Lemke et al., 2018). Since these patients require long-term and diverse answers, it is critical to establish an optimal collaboration among specialists to provide integrated and ongoing care for the chronically ill.
Resources
The Mobile Integrated Healthcare program is usually funded by grants from the local authorities and the EMS budget, making it a public effort. Among the many mobile resources required are those for chronic pain management, paramedical services in the local community, and transportation to a medical institution of choice (Holman, 2019). Healthcare providers are also on board with this initiative. As a result of insurance companies desire for people to use in-network providers, patient treatment will be more efficient. With MIH, patients may get the treatment they need without going to the hospital’s emergency room, saving insurance companies money. In addition, the insurer benefits from eliminating unnecessary and costly tests and charges (Holman, 2019). Finally, there is a joint effort by Health Promotion and CDC National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and other significant global partners (Pinet-Peralta et al., 2021). This collaboration supports strategic actions to prevent chronic disease and promote healthy living through the Global tobacco, Global Reproductive Health, Health Reports, and Global Cancer Burden.
Improvement
To accomplish this aim, chronic disease patients have a quality gap in care coordination despite multiple MIH initiatives. This is due to a lack of resources and a shortage of employees, among other things. Despite grant funding, the program’s resources are insufficient to accomplish its objectives. The government has not ensured that the program has all its resources to succeed (Lemke et al., 2018). Determining how many medical experts are required to serve all its vulnerable patients has proven difficult due to the wide geographical spread of the program’s beneficiaries. Bookings cite a lack of competent medical staff, lousy administration, outdated equipment, and inadequate funding, contributing to the healthcare system’s demise. Access to hospitals and physicians, shorter doctor waits times, better patient education on medical and administrative procedures, and open lines of communication between patients and their loved ones are just a few methods to make healthcare better.
Regulation
Current Regulation
The patients should be identified as High-Frequency users of emergency phone calls. Mobile Integrated Healthcare was initiated for people who could not go to their respective health facilities. The initiative focused on high-risk referrals, including chronic illnesses and minimal knowledge patients. Other patients were not excluded from using the service, but consent was necessary for any activity to happen in the MIH. These two regulations served their respective roles. Only prioritizing those who could not use the other health facilities was to reduce the number of people capable of visiting different facilities. Through this, the practitioners increased their scope. On the other hand, consent was for people that could not trust the initiative as an unprofessional or low-quality service provision (Pinet-Parelta et al., 2021). Governments were to respect the calls of both the patients and practitioners in this setup.
Regulatory Level
The MIH has a statutory certification regulatory level. In this, the practitioners are legally mandated to perform the tasks given since they are certified. Additionally, they are supposed to use their designated titles in their service provision. The uncertified personnel cannot perform any function in the area, even the voluntary ones. The medics are provided with public protection compared to the registration level. At this level, the practitioner’s information is made public to have met the required standards (Pinet-Parelta et al., 2021). The main aim is to build trust with the public for the smooth running of the service provision exercise.
Conclusion
The initiative is effective as it allows for closing a gap between service provision for people with chronic illnesses. Technological advancement has prioritized service provision, especially in the medical sector. Through the mobile app, a more prominent target population has been served. Further, with government involvement through certification and allowing the practitioners to operate, there is hope for better treatment of this disease. It gives the community the opportunity to see how the government cares and the steps it takes to ensure a country is healthy.
References
Holman, H. R. (2019). Chronic disease and the healthcare crisis. Chronic Illness, 1(4), 265-274.
Kralik, D., Price, K., & Telford, K. (2018). The meaning of self‐care for people with chronic illness. Journal of Nursing and Healthcare of Chronic Illness, 2(3), 197-204.
Lemke, M., Kappel, R., McCarter, R., D’Angelo, L., & Tuchman, L. K. (2018). Perceptions of health care transition care coordination in patients with chronic illness. Pediatrics, 141(5).
Oates, G. R., Jackson, B. E., Partridge, E. E., Singh, K. P., Fouad, M. N., & Bae, S. (2017, January). Sociodemographic Patterns of Chronic Disease: How the Mid-South Region Compares to the Rest of the Country. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 52(1S1), S31–S39.
Pinet-Peralta, L. M., Glos, L. J., Sanna, E., Frankel, B., & Lindqvist, E. (2021). EMS utilization predictors in a Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) program. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 21(1), 1-12.