Late-in-life: Innovations focus on care coordination and tailored support

[MINNPOST, November 17, 2014] Health-care organizations, including Allina Health, and others across the nation are testing innovative ideas for helping late-life patients coordinate their complex treatment regimens. At the same time, they are exploring patient-centered alternatives to the old doctor-knows-best model.

“When you tend to people’s real wishes, real goals, they make choices that work better for them and are less costly. They suffer less,” said Dr. Eric Anderson, a specialist in palliative care at Allina Health in the Twin Cities. “As we age and become ill, we all need to be seen as people.”

Anderson is the principal investigator for an Allina Health initiative called Robina LifeCourse. Launched in 2013, it is one of several efforts under way nationwide to test models for delivering more supportive, whole-person care to seriously ill patients and their families.

Read the full story at minnpost.com.