Introducing Care Advising Services

In the coming months we will take an important step in care transformation that will further our mission to improve the health and well-being of the people and communities we serve. As we build our capabilities in value-based care, we’re pleased to introduce a new service called Care Advising in partnership with Propel Health. (You can read more about the strategy behind Propel Health and value based care in this Dec. 13, 2015 edition of Common Ground.)

Care Advising will offer personalized, confidential, one-on-one support to patients who need extra help managing their health. It is led and informed by the patient’s primary care team and serves as a complement to care received in the provider’s office. Initially, only Salem Health employees and their dependents enrolled in a Salem Health health insurance plan will be eligible for Care Advising services.

Care Advising leverages the expertise of an entire team of health care professionals to strengthen the relationship between patients enrolled in Care Advising services and their primary care provider. Patients who choose to participate in Care Advising will work with a Care Advisor, who is a registered nurse employed by Propel Health, on a regular basis.

Patients will:

• Set personal health goals and create a care plan with their primary care provider and Care Advisor to achieve those goals
• Get support communicating with their providers about health conditions, self-management, condition monitoring activities, and progress toward their health goals
• Have regular contact from the Care Advisor to follow up on progress, care plan adherence, and to assess ongoing needs
• Receive condition monitoring, including self-monitoring and reminders about tests the patient should perform themselves or complete through their provider

Only those individuals who are identified as needing additional support—through provider referral and a comprehensive assessment of health data—will be contacted to participate. Working on behalf of Propel Health and the patient’s primary care provider, Care Advisors will engage patients by phone or in person. Patients will work with the same Care Advisor until their goals are achieved, which gives the Care Advisor greater opportunity to get to know each patient’s unique healthcare needs. Patient privacy is important; therefore, patients’ personal health information is only shared with people who are involved in their care.

Care Advising is offered at no additional cost to eligible patients, as a special benefit of our employee health insurance plan through Moda. However, patients who choose to participate will be responsible for paying copayments, deductibles and other costs of care normally associated with office visits or services that may be recommended through Care Advising.

Care Advising will be implemented among Salem Health Medical Group (formerly Willamette Health Partners) providers in phases, beginning February 2016 at select practices. Throughout 2016, we will continue to develop strategies with Propel Health that will enable us to build on the value of care we currently deliver.

We look forward to working with Propel Health to continue moving health care forward—in ways that individual clinicians or systems cannot achieve alone—to benefit patients in the communities we serve.