Chronic diseases continue to cause much suffering in both developed and developing countries. Some of those conditions include heart illnesses, diabetes, and cancer. They account for a high number of deaths or leave families in a state of financial and mental anguish. In managing chronic diseases, there is a need to develop strategies that will reduce their mortality rate and negative economic impact. One of the most effective techniques to employ in controlling chronic conditions is the innovative care delivery model. It involves coming up with modern methods of ensuring healthcare professionals give the best services to patients. As a leader, one can encourage high-level patient interaction, accountable care organizations, information processing, sharing techniques, and community focus. Those techniques can guarantee favorable results in tackling different health issues. Innovative care delivery plays a significant role in managing chronic diseases and their effects.
High-Level Patient Interaction
Many chronic disease patients undergo a lot of mental and physical pain, which can worsen if they don't get appropriate care on time. This anguish emanates from a lack of proper connection between them and the healthcare professionals (Klingensmith & Knodel, 2016) . To improve this condition, clinicians must create a personal relationship with their clients to ensure that the latter feel free to give certain information concerning the specific illness. The trust built will help the patient feel catered for, thus reducing any psychological torture they might be undergoing. As a leader in the healthcare sector, an individual can initiate such connections by checking on the type of services workers in this field offer to the patient. The leader can assign various clients to different healthcare professionals and instruct them to hand in the assessment of each patient regularly. From this exercise, stakeholders in the health sector will develop the appropriate ways to tackle each chronic disease. However, this connection must follow specific guidelines to become helpful to the patient. First, the relationship should not extend to non-professional terms. This principle will prevent any manipulation from either side. Secondly, the clinician must understand the cultural background of the patient first before building any professional relationship. It ensures that both use the appropriate mode of interaction without any feeling offended.
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Accountable Care Organizations (ACO)
Accountable care organizations are groups of healthcare professionals, clinicians, and other specialists working in the health sector who collaborate and take collective responsibility for the patient's cost and quality of services. A leader sets individual goals members of those organizations should meet after a particular time. If they achieve them, they receive a bonus as a motivation and an appreciation for the excellent work (Foxwell, Moyer & O'Connor, 2017) . There have been some cases of chronic disease patients getting substandard qualities or paying higher costs in various healthcare facilities. This situation often leads to one’s condition worsening to unbearable levels. As a leader in the health sector, one can bring all stakeholders together to join ACO to improve the care chronic disease patients receive. Such endeavors ensure that each member is accountable to the patients he/she is entrusted. It also prevents any form of manipulation on those suffering from chronic conditions by healthcare professionals. However, ACOs must follow the health sector's set guidelines while considering the workers' and patients' social and economic needs.
Information Processing and Sharing Techniques
Information processing and sharing are some of the integral parts of managing patients suffering from chronic diseases. This process helps healthcare professionals and other specialists to act on a condition in the most efficient and timely manner. It also minimizes delays that could worsen the patient's pain. As a leader in the healthcare sector, one is supposed to formulate strategies that could lead to a more comfortable sharing of information between various players for proper action. The first strategy involves recording and transmission for easier referencing. With many healthcare facilities experiencing a high number of patients, it might be hard to take and keep all their records (Sendall, McCosker, Crossley & Bonner, 2016) . This process should operate automatically by employing computers and other advancements that handle the information and feed it in a particular database. Different online locations should be created, with each handling a specific ailment. The second strategy involves the passing of information from one department or specialist to another. As a leader, one needs to formulate channels that could allow such movement safely. For instance, a clinician may want to inquire about specific information from the lab. More comfortable and timely acquisition of it will enable him/her to carry out proper and timely care to the chronic disease patient, thus minimizing pain or saving a life. However, there are certain conditions that the leader must put in place to ensure the success of this strategy. First, the information processing and sharing system must be secure enough to protect the patient’s details from getting into the wrong people. It should also store the data for long without losing it. The second requirement the leader must put in place is to ensure the system's simplicity to the concerned parties. With this business factor, healthcare professionals and other specialists will easily and timely pass information about individual patients or chronic disease.
Medical/Health Homes
Medical or health homes are systems set to offer patients with primary care or a central coordinator who place them in different settings providing specialized treatment. Those facilities and specialists operate remotely where other patients with various chronic conditions can access healthcare at ease. There are multiple reasons why stakeholders in the health sector might want to take this action. First, they might want to reduce congestion in primary healthcare facilities like hospitals (Pendharkar, Agarwal & Tripathi, 2016) . A high number of patients in one location brings about low health services, which can significantly disadvantage many patients. Secondly, stakeholders in the healthcare sector may want to increase accessibility to various chronic diseases. Medical homes operate through a collaboration between different players like the government, organizations, and healthcare workers' bodies. For this program to work, there must be government support in finance to sponsor the majority of its activities. As a leader, one is supposed to develop an appropriate budget that will allow smooth operations of the entire project. Secondly, this program leader should understand the statutory requirements before he/she could commence with it. This initiative will ensure that none of the medical home program members run into trouble with the authority.
Community Focus
Many chronic diseases tend to occur to people due to their environmental conditions. They also significantly affect people based on social life, thus easier to identify them with a particular group. For this reason, it would be easier to determine the prevalence of a specific illness before developing the appropriate approaches. There are various techniques a leader can employ in addressing chronic diseases in a particular community. The first one involves leading other healthcare professionals in collecting data on the number of people suffering from those illnesses like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes (Mensik & Mensik, 2016) . They can also rely on the information recorded in various health facilities in a particular region. This action will help healthcare professionals and other stakeholders formulate the appropriate approaches to the problem. For instance, they would know the number of personnel required, the amount of finance to allocate, and the time needed to undertake a particular program. Secondly, a leader can involve community leaders and decision-makers in identifying patients suffering from different chronic diseases. This technique will help the healthcare fraternity endear itself with the people in a particular area for proper and more accessible care provision. However, there are specific procedures healthcare professionals, and other specialists must follow to succeed in this program. First, they must acquaint themselves with the community's cultural and social life before deciding to venture into it. Healthcare professionals must carefully study the local people's lifestyle to understand various dynamics affecting a particular chronic disease. Secondly, the team can liaise with the local government to understand specific rules operating in the area. This initiative makes any healthcare professional or specialist involved in this project aware of the practices to follow during the entire process. It would also be necessary for the leader to seek the governmental bodies’ support concerned with health for the project to succeed.
Conclusion
The innovative care delivery model plays a vital role in managing chronic diseases. Those illnesses pose a serious problem to many people in the developed and developing world, thus requiring the most of this approach. The reason for choosing an innovative care delivery model is that it provides various techniques healthcare professionals and other specialists can use to deal with the issue. They include high-level patient interaction, focus on the community, accountable care organizations, and medical or health homes. Another one can be enhanced information processing and sharing techniques. A leader can ensure that each of those techniques provides a boost in the management of chronic diseases. This scenario occurs when a person uses his/her managerial skills in each process. Other essential factors include the economic, social, cultural, and political implications of each strategy.
References
Klingensmith, L., & Knodel, L. (2016). Mercy Virtual Nursing: An Innovative Care Delivery Model. Nurse Leader , 14 (4), 275-279. doi: 10.1016/j.mnl.2016.05.011
Foxwell, A., Moyer, M., & O'Connor, N. (2017). Palliative Care Office Hours: An Innovative Model for Care Delivery and Education (TH341C). Journal Of Pain And Symptom Management , 53 (2), 337-338. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2016.12.070
Pendharkar, D., Agarwal, P., & Tripathi, C. (2016). Innovative healthcare delivery model to expand access and outreach of cancer care services. Journal Of Cancer Research And Therapeutics , 12 (1), 2. doi: 10.4103/0973-1482.180079
Sendall, M., McCosker, L., Crossley, K., & Bonner, A. (2016). A structured review of chronic care model components supporting transition between healthcare service delivery types for older people with multiple chronic diseases. Health Information Management Journal , 46 (2), 58-68. doi: 10.1177/1833358316681687
Mensik, J., & Mensik, J. (2016). The Nurse Manager's Guide to Innovative Staffing, Second Edition . Indianapolis: Sigma Theta Tau International.
