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Centralizing Care Management to Improve Patient Outcomes: A Proven Approach
By Scott Skibo, MD, FCCP, Chief Medical Officer at Eon
When thinking about the early detection and treatment of lung cancer, one thing is becoming increasingly clear – a centralized care management function can dramatically improve patient outcomes. While program centralization can mean many things, in this context (and in my opinion), centralization is the management and standardization of processes surrounding early detection, follow-up, next-step recommendation, and outcomes tracking. By bringing these processes under one business unit or team, patient, provider, and system-level benefits can be achieved.
I recently had the opportunity to present this topic at Cleveland Clinic’s Advancing Early Lung Cancer Detection meeting, where I highlighted data on how centralizing care management leads to better patient adherence, improved follow-up rates, and significant efficiencies for health systems.
Why Centralization Matters
Unfortunately, while millions of scans take place in the US every year, nearly 70% of patients with potentially cancerous abnormalities do not receive appropriate follow-up care. For many health systems, follow-up after an exam, imaging, or ER visit can be a complex and burdensome challenge. Whether due to communication breakdowns, a lack of clarity on who is responsible for follow-up, or patients simply getting lost in the system, opportunities for intervention or guidance are often missed. This is where centralization comes in.
My presentation highlighted how health systems that centralize their lung cancer screening (LCS) and incidental pulmonary nodule (IPN) programs see significant increases in patient adherence to follow-up care. By designating a team of nurse and patient navigators to these programs - supported by intelligent technology - systems across the country are improving their follow-up processes and eliminating uncertainty in the patient journey.
Centralized Programs are Essential in Speed-to-Care, Adherence, and Outcomes
One of the most compelling points I discussed was the impact of centralized follow-up on patient adherence. Data collected from over 30,000 lung cancer screenings showed that centralized programs enable LCS return rates north of 75%, compared to the industry average of 22.3%. This significant increase in return rates is essential in creating a pattern of early-identified nodules, early-stage cancer diagnosis, and stage shift in the community.
Since centralized teams are often 100% focused on the care pathways of patients, they are able to persist in following up with the patient and provider until the appropriate next step has been completed (and the step after that, and the one after that, etc.). This has proven to be a winning approach, with our clients seeing an overall patient return rate of an unprecedented 87% (for LCS and IPN programs).
And it’s not just the adherence - and therefore volume - of patients that centralized programs can support, but also the speed at which patients move through their care journey. For example, Eon partners who have centralized care management functions see a dramatic reduction in the time it takes to review patients and determine the next step in care – from 34 days to just 5 days. This means patients and providers receive communication about their results sooner and can schedule next steps as quickly as possible. For some patients, reducing these delays can have a meaningful impact on their outcomes.
Health System Benefits of Centralized Management
Centralized care management isn’t just about saving lives - it’s also about making healthcare more efficient and cost-effective. By ensuring that patients receive appropriate and timely follow-up care, health systems can reduce the number of missed treatment opportunities, decrease readmissions, and improve overall care coordination. All of these factors translate to better financial performance.
For instance, one health system who partnered with Eon to centralize their processes saw patient volumes grow from 173 to 4,349 in one year, a 2,514% increase in managed patients. On-time return rates also increased from 32.1% to 81.9%. This not only enabled a significant improvement in patient outcomes, but also generated additional revenue for the hospital ($1.16M in 7 months for this system) through follow-up exams and treatments.
Another large system partner was able to increase the volume of managed IPN and LCS patients requiring follow-up from 6,761 to 24,030 - without adding FTEs to their team. Again, this centralized approach led to measurable financial impacts for this system.
A Path Forward for Health Systems
As my presentation - and the data within - underscored, centralized care management is a proven approach for improving lung cancer screening and incidental findings management. It offers health systems the opportunity to provide better care and save more lives - all while optimizing resources.
For patients, this means fewer missed diagnoses and more timely interventions. For providers, it’s a win-win that balances better patient care with improved financial health. Centralized care management is not just the future of scalable cancer care - it’s a necessity for health systems aiming to deliver the best possible outcomes for their patients.