Patient Care offers new health care navigation service

Milwaukee-based Patient Care recently 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 system.
” Nurse Navigator is our new service designed to provide our members with clinical advocacy so that when they are involved with Jane Cooper-
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 Jane Cooper, president and chief executive officer of Patient Care. “It is an expansion of the advocacy service we have been offering patients for the last ten years.” 
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 diagnosis from multiple provider systems, she said.
“Nurse navigator can help a patient and his or her family understand the decisions presented to them, and can also act as a liason between different doctors or providers doing different procedures,” Cooper said. “Our nurse navigators don’t offer clinical advice, but they do help each patient understand their options.”
Mary Hack, RN serves as Patient Care’s vice president of clinical services for Nurse Navigator. The company plans to add two to three additional registered nurses to its staff early in 2011.
“This service will help Patient Care provide its clients with a whole continuum of care,” said Hack. “Nurse Navigator offers the one-on-one profession support for patients with chronic or complex medical conditions, we can help them to coordinate and facilitate the best treatment possible for them using evidence-based medicine and by making sure the patient is aware of the issue at hand, and understands what treatment options are available to them, which is sometimes difficult due to complexity.”
Nurse Navigator was launched on a trial basis with a few of Patient Care clients in the fourth quarter of 2010. Due to the overwhelmingly positive response, Cooper said. The program will become available to all Patient Care employer companies in January of 2011.
Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, was one of the first companies to realize the benefits of the program and sign on, Cooper said.
“As the cost of health care continues to increase and the health care reform laws take hold one of the realities is that insurance companies and providers are going to be looking for ways to reduce the cost of doing business,” Cooper said. “We believe Nurse Navigator can help make a huge difference for patients navigating an ever increasing complex health care system.”
Nurse Navigator is available as an additional service offered to Patient Care employer clients. Employers can choose to select Nurse Navigator as an additional part of its Patient Care service offerings package, Cooper said.