For many consumers, staying on top of our health care needs takes a back seat to the juggling act between professional and personal activities and responsibilities.
The ever-changing health care landscape in the nation presents even more confusing options and obstacles for the everyday consumer.
Milwaukee-based Patient Care offers a unique service for businesses and consumers and can act as a mediator between patients, health care providers and their insurance companies.
Jane Cooper, chief executive officer, president and founder of Patient Care, moved the company to Milwaukee in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina had destroyed her business, which was previously based in New Orleans, La.
Today, Patient Care serves more than 1 million people nationwide. By educating patients who have leveraged its services, Patient Care has saved its members more than $2.9 million and saved their employer groups more than $400,000 in health care costs.
Last winter, Patient Care launched its new Nurse Navigator service for employees of Patient Care enrolled companies. The new service allows employees of Patient Care clients to receive one-on-one assistance from a certified nurse who can help them decipher the complicated health care and insurance systems.
According to Cooper, Patient Care Nurse Navigators can assist patients in coordinating clinical services among different providers and can help alleviate some of the confusion surrounding the health care system. The service is particularly useful for patients facing complicated or multiple diagnoses from multiple provider systems, she said.
“Nurse Navigator is our new service designed to provide our members with clinical advocacy so that when they are involved with a particular illness or faced with a situation where they need clinical support or additional information they can work with a single nurse advocate for that help,” said Cooper. “It is an expansion of the advocacy service we have been offering patients for the last 10 years.”
