Archives for December 2017

The Sacred Role of Care Managers

Greetings of the holiday season to all!

A friend of mine has a bumper sticker that reads “WARNING: DATES IN CALENDAR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR!” Ain’t that the truth! I expect you are all feeling as much whiplash as we are at how quickly another year is drawing to a close. As artificial and corny as it seems, I’ve always appreciated the year end–new year pause to reflect, appreciate wins, absorb losses, and evaluate goofs – and plan ahead for fewer of the latter and more of the former.

I’m ending the year a little exhausted by the learning curve of taking up the leadership at the Institute, but much relieved by the committed, skilled, and thoroughly delightful members of our team! I’m learning more, too, about the world of care/case management and have come to appreciate, all the more, how it really is the key link in the continuity of care chain.

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Case managers play critical role in working with complex-care populations

By Melanie Marshall

The U.S. healthcare system has been the subject of intense debate over the past few years, but there’s one thing most can agree on: much of the challenge involves patients with complex needs that have a devastating impact on their own health and on healthcare costs nationwide.

Those needs – including poverty, hunger, and housing insecurity – are social determinants of health, defined by the Centers for Disease Control as “conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play (that) affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes.”

The idea isn’t new or surprising, said Erin Westphal, Program Officer with The SCAN Foundation, a public charity focused on transforming care for older adults: “You can’t expect someone who is a diabetic to eat well, test their blood sugar, and keep their insulin refrigerated, when they’re homeless.”

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