In case management, what is the focus of care coordination?

Care coordination focuses on improving patient outcomes while reducing costs, making it a crucial aspect of effective case management. This approach ensures that various healthcare services and providers work together seamlessly to address a patient's needs in a comprehensive way. By streamlining communication and collaboration among healthcare teams, care coordination helps to avoid fragmentation of services, which can lead to unnecessary duplication of tests or procedures, ultimately driving up costs.

The goal is to create a cohesive plan that not only prioritizes the patient's health and wellbeing, but also promotes efficient use of resources, contributing to improved health outcomes. This involves not just the management of chronic conditions, but also preventive care, transitions of care, and follow-up services that enhance the overall patient experience.

In contrast to other choices, which either limit the scope of care (such as focusing only on referrals or emergency care) or emphasize metrics like readmission rates without a broader context, the focus on improving outcomes while reducing costs captures the holistic approach that care coordination embodies in case management.