VERITAS Launches Chronic Care Management - October 1, 2015
Shore Physicians Group in Southern New Jersey is partnering with Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania-based VERITAS using this new Medicare reimbursement to launch a service that helps keep some of its most challenging patients healthy.
Wilke-Barre, PA, October 1, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Chronic Care Management (CCM) acts as an extension of Shore Physicians Group’s practice by providing patients with 24/7 access to a care manager at Veritas who is backed by an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, dietitians and social workers. Working with the patient’s care plan, the care manager helps the patient understand his or her chronic diseases and is available to answer questions and concerns. The care manager also assists the patient in coordinating appointments with health care providers, medication management, and helps the patient make better decisions about their health.
By providing ongoing assistance and management related to the patient’s health issues, offering knowledgeable responses to patients’ questions, and providing the kind of education patients need to remain healthy, CCM helps limit ER visits, hospitalizations and higher medical bills.
"CCM is a great advance in health care for patients with chronic diseases," said William O'Malley, "It allows the kinds of responsiveness that doctors know is important for these patients and makes patients part of their own health team. Best of all, it provides the kind of measurable results that have always been a challenge with the target population."
William O'Malley, Vice President of Healthcare, Veritas
“The Chronic Care Management initiative is perfectly aligned with our core principle of providing personalized service and high quality care,” said Mark Stephens, chief administrative officer of the South Jersey practice.
Veritas provides the practice with the required clinical, management services and documentation it needs to ensure that the required policy elements for Medicare reimbursement are met.
“This support program provides what is essentially a ‘health care concierge’ for patients with chronic conditions,” Stephens added. “We have partnered with Veritas to be able to deliver these valuable services to our Medicare patients with at least two chronic conditions.”
Patients benefit by having an engaged care manager with direct access to the members of their care team allowing for comprehensive and complete patient treatment and coordination of services. Patients who become more engaged and active stakeholders in their own health typically have better outcomes and are more satisfied with the quality of care that has been provided to them. Because Veritas has the ability to offer CCM at a rate below the average Medicare reimbursement for the service, there is no need for the medical practice to compromise staff productivity but can still take advantage of a new monthly revenue stream.
