6 Essential Services Provided by Community Paramedicine

Improving the overall health of a patient -- and for that matter, entire communities -- requires a broad approach.

That’s why community paramedicine is changing the healthcare landscape.

Through its suite of in-home services, patients get the care they need when they need it as part of a broader effort to improve health outcomes within communities.

Community Paramedicine

Community paramedicine, also referred to as community health programs or mobile integrated health programs, employs several key services in its patient care model.

Providing a more holistic approach to medical care that actively involves patients, these services include:

1. In-home care
2. Patient advocacy
3. Custom care plans
4. Patient education
5. Tracking patient health and healthcare needs
6. 24/7 help

1. In-Home Care

Studies show patients fare better in managing or recovering from a medical condition when they receive treatment in their homes.

Community paramedicine does just that -- outside of a true medical emergency, it eliminates the need for a patient to leave their home. Medical treatment, from routine screenings to chronic care management, is delivered within the comfort of a person’s home.

As an added benefit, patients treated in their homes are not exposed to others with contagious medical conditions as they would be at a doctor's office or emergency room. Furthermore, home care is drastically less expensive -- 52% less than the cost of hospital treatment.

2. Patient Advocacy

Though not primary care physicians, qualified medical professionals in community paramedicine are on the front lines of patient care. Through regular interactions, care providers such as paramedics or mental health professionals gain a deeper understanding of a patient’s needs or challenges.

Community paramedicine providers can play an integral role in advocacy issues patients face, such as:

• Decision making
• Confidentiality
• Safety

3. Custom Care Plans

Part of treating a condition is understanding a patient.

In addition to determining a patient’s true medical needs, community paramedicine allows caregivers to see the environment a patient lives in.

With this information, health workers develop care plans completely customized to a patient’s specific needs. These plans factor in all the challenges -- such as mobility issues, geographic location, or mental health concerns -- a patient must overcome to recover or effectively manage a condition.

Personalized care plans also empower patients to take a more active role in improving their health.

4. Patient Education

Working hand-in-hand with custom care plans, a hallmark of community paramedicine is patient education.

One of the primary benefits of this service is its reinforcement of diagnoses and customized care plans. By helping a patient understand these elements of treatment, they become more of a partner in managing their overall health.

Education also helps patients identify changes in their health -- information that can be extremely pertinent to healthcare professionals involved in their treatment.

5. Tracking Patient Health & Healthcare Needs

Community paramedicine provides for regular check-ins between a healthcare professional and a patient.

Though these one-on-one interactions -- even if done through remote patient monitoring -- qualified medical professionals track a patient’s health more frequently. This data is used to gauge a patient’s progress or assess their overall health over a period of time.

For a community health program’s purposes, information collected about patients’ health helps officials paint a broader portrait of a community’s overall health and align services with actual needs.

6. 24/7 Help

Doctors’ offices aren’t always open. Emergency rooms are meant for true medical emergencies.

But medical conditions or abrupt changes in health don’t operate on a schedule.

Through community paramedicine, help is always available. Whether it’s an in-home visit or by remote patient engagement through a video conference, the right healthcare professional is quickly deployed when an assessment is
needed.

These assessments can prevent unnecessary and costly trips to the ER.

Services That Serve a Community

Community paramedicine’s ultimate goal is to make communities healthier and match needs with services. Through the alignment of its services, community paramedicine brings healthcare professionals and patients together for improved health outcomes.

Learn more about how FieldMed is helping communities change the face of localized healthcare.