February 7, 2017 – Where They Are

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Anchor lead: A new approach to healthcare is helping those with complex needs, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Meeting patients where they are is one central tenet of a Johns Hopkins program designed to help patients avoid readmission to the hospital and reduce their need to visit an ED, with early results indicating the approach not only works, but staff and patients are much happier with it. Scott Berkowitz, senior director for accountable care, says the program required a paradigm shift.

Berkowitz: We have to continue to understand that a lot of care is not delivered within traditional settings, a lot of care is not delivered within our hospitals or even within our clinics. But to the extent that we can move care to the home, to the extent that we can move care to places where these patients are comfortable, and these patients sometimes have had long relationships of distrust with traditional healthcare settings, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t be engaged and participatory in their care, and we can get there by working as a team.  :25

Berkowitz believes lessons learned here are applicable around the country in healthcare improvement efforts. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.