Health care is personal. The needs of each individual, regardless of age or geography or gender, vary from person to person — including patients or residents in long-term care facilities. Those varying needs necessitate a personalized or individualized approach to care, in order to achieve the most optimal outcomes.
The healthcare industry refers to this approach to care as “patient-centered care,” where all decisions made regarding care, treatment and therapies are anchored by a single individual’s circumstances and goals. There are a number of benefits to a patient-centered care approach, all of which ultimately support improved outcomes, including improved patient satisfaction, improved provider-patient relationship, better treatment compliance, cost savings, care that is coordinated and offers continuity, and improved psychological states.
After all, patient-centered care is a holistic approach that touches on every need a person has, from mental health to physical health to pharmaceutical regimens to recreation and socialization. And, in a long-term care setting, it’s particularly important that care encompasses every aspect, particularly when barriers to care are considered.
Typical barriers to care include reduced mobility or a lack of transportation to medical facilities — including pharmacies, affordability and medication availability, or insurance obstacles related to required prior authorizations. As a partner to long-term care facilities, the team at UnitedRx regularly works to facilitate solutions designed to mitigate these types of challenges to ensure that patients receive individualized care.
The data underscores the importance of patient-centered long-term care. For example, up to two-thirds of medication-related hospitalizations are due to poor adherence to a pharmaceutical regimen. It is estimated that half of patients don’t adhere to their medication treatment plan and hospital readmissions end up costing the healthcare system billions of dollars every year.
Aspects Of Personalized Healthcare
When residents of a long-term care facility receive patient-centered care, they are more actively involved in their care, they are able to better understand why certain treatments are good for their health, and they are more willing to partner with their providers to work towards the goals they establish together.
Those goals can be varied, touching on different achievements that are appropriate for the patient across physical and occupational therapy, diet and nutrition, socialization and — when needed — mental health interventions.
While all patients benefit from a blend of treatments for physical, mental and social health, each individual will have different milestones. And while more than 95% of residents living in a long-term care facility are prescribed medication as part of their treatment plan, each individual has different interactions with his or her prescriptions that need to be monitored in a personalized way.
By implementing a patient-centered care model, long-term care facilities not only create a more coordinated care network between providers, specialists and their long-term care pharmacy partner, but they also help patients improve and live a more fulfilled life by working to meet the needs across the healthcare spectrum in an individualized way.
If you are interested in developing a more patient-centered, personalized approach to pharmaceutical care at your long-term care facility, UnitedRx is the pharmacy partner for you. We understand the benefits and look forward to providing individualized care even when we’re working with facilities that have large patient populations.
Reach out to our team to learn more about how our partnerships help patients achieve better outcomes.
At UnitedRx, we deliver a hometown pharmacy experience to more than 400 clients across the country. Contact us to learn more about how our approach to treatment can meet the pharmacy needs of your long-term care facility.