Some areas of healthcare have evolved at lightning speed over these past several years, with the COVID-19 pandemic and its far-reaching impact accelerating progress with relative ease. Adopted just a few years prior to the public health emergency's onset, chronic care management (CCM) is now solidified as a service and emerging care model — one that is bridging distance gaps and helping chronic disease patients reach and sustain better health for longer.
Yet adoption has been slower than one might expect for a service with so many patient care benefits. Is the near-sighted perceived cost of this multifaceted solution deterring patients from taking advantage of it? Before we answer this question, and provide some reasons why patients and practitioners should fully embrace chronic care management, let's gain a better understanding of CCM.
Chronic care management was adopted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2015. CMS quickly realized the potential and value of CCM and has since thrown its full weight behind it, making the service a permanent offering and expanding on early guidelines to incorporate and qualify more eligible Medicare beneficiaries for the service.
To qualify for chronic care management participation, patients must be diagnosed with two or more covered chronic health conditions which are expected to last for at least 12 months or until the death of the patient. With a high prevalence of chronic disease among older patients, there is no shortage of CCM-eligible patients over the short and long term. Statistics show that 6 in 10 adults in the United States have a chronic disease, and 4 in 10 have two or more chronic diseases.
In a nutshell, chronic care management is an easier way to provide qualifying patients with wraparound care that helps to clinicians and patients more effectively manage chronic diseases. But CCM is not only good for patients. It can also help organizations achieve higher quality and patient satisfaction ratings while generating an additional, consistent revenue stream — one that recently received a sizable boost. For assistance identifying which of your patients are eligible for chronic care management, download this CCM patient eligibility guide.
Aside from the revenue, the chronic care management service can also improve patient engagement and organization efficiency, allowing clinicians and their teams to provide quality care more effectively for more patients while still ensuring they have time for all other competing demands and responsibilities.
While chronic care management is clearly a highly cost-effective service, clinicians and their organizations may find it difficult to help patients understand this fact and convince them to consent to joining a CCM program.
For Medicare beneficiaries, CCM is covered under Medicare Part B and is subject to the beneficiary’s annual deductible and the 20% coinsurance. Participation in CCM will typically cost patients around $10 each month depending on geographic region once their deductible is met for the year. In fact, many secondary insurances currently cover this cost. For example, patients who are dual enrolled in Medicare/Medicaid or patients with Medicare supplemental plans may not receive a bill for these additional services.
While any out-of-pocket expense might initially act as a deterrent to enrollment in a chronic care management program, a candid conversation can be had with patients to discuss the tangible value of CCM and help patients understand that enrollment and participation is likely to save them money — potentially substantial amounts — throughout the year.
For patients struggling to cover essential life expenses, you may consider offering financial assistance — via an established program — if you and the patient strongly believe a patient's health and wellness depends on participation in the CCM program.
To help you facilitate conversations about chronic care management with patients, here are five of the reasons to highlight explaining why CCM is worth their investment, both financially and in the time required for optimal participation.
Consider this the golden ticket. While the out-of-pocket cost of chronic care management might feel overwhelming for patients on a fixed income, the actual price tag is nominal compared to the out-of-pocket costs of a trip to the emergency room or hospital admission — both of which may be avoided through the delivery of CCM.
According to Consumer Health Ratings, the cost of an inpatient stay at a community hospital in 2019 exceeded $14,000. When subject to the deductible and 20% coinsurance, the cost of a single hospitalization dwarfs the cost of CCM if it can prevent the need for even just a single hospitalization.
Americans spend more on prescription drugs than anyone else in the world, and the expense associated with medications is often the top expense every year for patients. A report published by the Pan Foundation found that Medicare beneficiaries spent an average of $3,200 out of pocket on prescription medications. With effective chronic care management, the provision of greater care oversight can help clinicians dial in on what medications work for the patient and eliminate potentially harmful and duplicative drugs. Clinicians may also be able to switch patients from an expensive drug to one that is less expensive but just as effective.
Also worth mentioning is that with better control over medications, patients should experience better control over their symptoms, thus making chronic care management a win-win for cost and symptom control. And with better symptom control comes the reduced need for healthcare services and likelihood of a costly hospital admission.
Chronic care management provides a direct link to the patient's care team, better ensuring that when a care or medication issue or question arises, the patient can receive the support and answers they need directly from a knowledgeable source. By enrolling in a CCM program and increasing communication with their dedicated care team, there is reduced likelihood that a patient will experience runaround with front office staff, phone tag with floor nurses, or other obstacles that get in the way of receiving potentially time-sensitive information, instructions and support. This more direct, around-the-clock access to the care team can also keep patients connected with other useful resources, helping patients stay engaged and feeling more accountable for taking control over their health.
Chronic care management can be performed across different modalities, such as telephone or through secure telehealth platforms. This means care can be provided anywhere the patient is rather than requiring patients to travel to and meet in person with practitioners. Patients will take fewer trips into the office, and they will spend less on transportation costs and less time in traffic.
When a practice incorporates telehealth services, such as remote patient monitoring, into a CCM program — thus creating a comprehensive care management program — the patient and care team will also have current information about the patient's health status and vitals. This further helps the patient remain engaged and accountable for their lifestyle choices and allows the healthcare team to make more timely decisions that could potentially prevent the need for emergent or urgent medical care, saving the patient time and money.
Finally, chronic care management can help the entire care team, from the primary care provider to specialists, stay current on a patient's health status. This increases effective care coordination and decreases the likelihood of duplicated services. According to the University of New Hampshire, duplication of services, such as labs and imaging, wastes as much as $20 billion in healthcare costs annually. Better coordinated care across all providers better ensures patients receive the right services at the right time from the right practitioners. When care is optimized, so are costs.
The benefits to patients of enrolling in a chronic care management program are undeniably substantial. CCM can help improve a patient's health while reducing their healthcare costs — that's a big win-win. Of course, these benefits will be unattainable if a patient cannot receive CCM services.
The good news is that developing and growing a chronic care management program does not need to be a significant undertaking for organizations. Prevounce is here to help. We've prepared a helpful CCM program development checklist. When you pair this with the Prevounce platform that streamlines the delivery, billing, and documentation of chronic care management, you'll soon have a program that's helping patients and your bottom line. To learn more about the Prevounce CCM solution relied upon by organizations nationwide, schedule a demo.