Care Coordinators: Streamlining Home Health Care in Escondido

As receiving in-home care in Escondido and elsewhere becomes more common, replacing more traditional structures like nursing homes for providing senior care, the federal government has seen the need to begin addressing it as part of the nation’s healthcare network. Part of that change is the establishment of a new term and role, that of “care coordinator.”

Who Is a Care Coordinator?

Simply defining what a care coordinator is and does has already taken up quite a bit of government resources. Part of the Affordable Care Act directed an agency to begin formalizing this role, which has been developing in practice all over the country. According to the lengthy collection of documents that the agency released, a care coordinator is someone who works to pull together all the efforts that it takes to manage an individual’s health.

Practically Speaking

That definition might not help much in terms of actually understanding how care coordination affects a senior and his medical and home health care. In Poway, a care coordinator does six main things:

• Identify needs, initially and on an ongoing basis
• Plan care based on needs
• Continue communicating with professionals, the patient, and the patient’s family
• Help transitions occur smoothly
• Find help outside the healthcare industry if it is needed
• Larger-scale use of information gathered during individual care

Future Changes

The rise of home health care in North San Diego County and across the country has quickly become a leading solution to elderly care needs. As the government follows the lead of professionals who have come on board, we can expect many changes—hopefully most of them good ones—to the way national policy relates to senior care. The formalizing of the role of “care coordinator” is certainly just the first of many such changes.