Engaging Patients:
Initial Contact & First Month
You have received a referral from the PCP, now what?
The old adage “first impressions are the last impression” rings especially true for your first contact with a patient/family who has been referred into collaborative care.
Once you have received the referral from the Primary Care Provider, the process can begin. Whether you are reaching out to a patient/family after receiving a referral or meeting a family during a warm handoff, you should ensure a few things occur.
Talk to the patient/family about the CoCM program, this includes your role as their care manager, and what they can expect from collaborative care. This ensures that patients/families have clear expectations about the program and how it will help them.
Once your patients/families have an overview of collaborative care, you can talk to them about measurements. When talking about measures, be sure to talk about the importance of filling them out so that the care team can help support them based on their responses. You also want to be sure you talk about the frequency of when measurements will be sent out. Together, you can figure out the best way for the patient to receive them (email, text, and/or live in-person). Once you have figured this piece out, it is time to administer the measures based on the patient’s preference.
Before your interaction with the patient is over be sure to identify the best times and ways of contact and schedule a follow-up time to check in. Ensuring that you have a follow-up date and time keeps the patient/family on your radar and decreases the possibility of them falling through the cracks.
Are you co-located?
If you are co-located, you may have the opportunity to meet with patients after the PCP has obtained consent; this is what we refer to as a “warm handoff.”
If you are not co-located and/or do not have the ability to engage in a warm handoff, you can call your patients/families following their appointment with their primary care provider. Our recommendation is to follow up within 24-48 hours to keep the momentum and engagement fresh and on-going.
What if the patient/family doesn’t answer my call?
This might happen. Keep in mind that patients/families are juggling life. Try to reach out again. If you still are not having luck with engaging a patient/family who has been referred there a couple of things to consider: Do you have the right contact information? Is there a better time to connect?
After a few unsuccessful tries, it may be time to circle back to the primary care provider - give them an update and see if they have any other suggestions.