New proposed strategy recently posted in the Hospitals and Health Networks (H&HN) as an article titled A Holistic Approach to Health Care Can Lower Costs and Improve Quality, authored by Alan Spiro, MD and the director of the Duke Leadership Program in Integrative Healthcare, Adam Perlman, MD, MPH

They suggest that alongside of two prevailing models of care – “biomedical” and “integrative” – a third model has emerged and deserves consideration. They introduce the idea of an “Assisted Model” for care. In this model ,“consumers get the support they need — via a trusted adviser — to navigate the health care system, coordinate care, address life-context issues, and curate other health- and benefits-related services.”

The assistance model uses care coordinators, coaches, navigators, social workers and others to support patients in getting the right services at the right time. In so doing, they cut down on the “process errors” that may come from patients overlooking, or forgoing optimal, timely treatment.  Such care has been shown in biomedical settings to reduce costs by 15 percent.

Read Summary in Integrative Practitioner Blog by John Weeks