Panel Management in Primary Care
Division of General, Geriatric, Palliative & Hospital Medicine
CLINICAL NEWS: Panel Management
Geriatrician Seki Balogun, MBBS, with patient.
Panel management, also known as population management, is a proactive approach to healthcare. “Population” means the panel of patients associated with a provider or care team. Population-based care means that the care team is concerned with the health of the entire population of its patients, not just those who come in for visits. For example, a care team with a panel of 1,500 patients would be concerned about the health care needs of the entire 1,500. The team would work on anticipating and planning for this care proactively (in advance) rather than reactively (when the patient shows up for a visit and requests care).
Why Is Panel Management Important?
Some practices do not use panels and operate more as acute care centers—services rendered to patients needing urgent medical attention (e.g., infection, injuries, or flu). In most community health care centers, patients are scheduled with whichever physician is available as opposed to an assigned provider. This is the old reactive model of care and one that does not help build relationships with patients.
The “care model” and “patient-centered medical home” concepts require a different approach. Patients are assigned to particular clinicians or care teams; this in turn fosters ongoing relationships, and makes it possible for care teams to “manage” care — not just for individual patients as they appear, but for all of the patients assigned to their panel..