If tech-only approaches could solve readmissions and decrease avoidable utilization, the U.S. health system would not have a problem with unnecessary acute utilization. But we do have that problem and it’s time to recognize that the digital-only solutions, while helpful, are not standalone solutions.

The right mix of human and tech elements, integrated together, support personalized and meaningful peer-to-patient relationships and personalized communication in providing patients and their families with the connected support they need to stay on track and engage in the management of their condition throughout their care continuum.


Optimally, care guides are equipped with scalable, technology platforms that provide structured workflows and use evidence-based disease and condition-specific protocols to proactively identify and resolve practical and non-clinical barriers experienced during their care. A patient activation platform that augments a hospital’s care management workflow and automates protocols helps uncover both non-clinical and clinical issues and barriers. With this technological support, care guides ensure that non-clinical issues get promptly resolved and clinical issues are immediately escalated to proper clinical care teams.

Extended support to alleviate critical nursing shortages
A key value proposition of care guidance is its impact upon the nursing shortage.

The American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) recommends looking for opportunities to offload and alleviate time-consuming tasks. Nurses engaged in patient navigation and care coordination report that a significant amount of their workload is spent addressing non-clinical patient issues and practical tasks. Assigning nurses and clinical staff with burdensome responsibilities beyond their scope of practice can lead to dissatisfaction, burnout, turnover and shortages.

As healthcare organizations experience the profound financial impact of nurse shortages, care guidance is providing an innovative and efficient solution. The addition of a care guidance program, beyond mere navigation efforts, provides organizations with truly effective supplementary support services, functioning as a lower cost extension of clinical teams and freeing up labor, time and resources so that nurses can focus on high-value clinical tasks.

Data captures strategic insights
An effective care guidance platform also captures SDoH data and disparity-related barrier resolution, exceeding the capabilities of typical electronic health record (EHR) systems which are not specifically designed to facilitate the kind of resolution workflows that are needed to address health equity and SDoH issues. A specialized platform facilitates operational improvement by seamlessly exchanging relevant insights for each patient population.

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