In her job as a VHAN social worker, Amber Colbert has helped countless patients make the transition from hospital to a skilled nursing facility. Typically, Colbert works with Medicare patients 65 or older, monitoring their health care journey and helping them find the right facility when needed. That experience served her well in her care for an Alzheimer’s patient and his caregiver wife. Read the full story to learn how VHAN social workers help patients and their families at every stage of life.

While VHAN Social Worker Mary Brooks has worked on dozens of memorable cases, a recent experience with one particular patient stuck with her. The patient was discharged from the hospital with an open wound and a significant recovery ahead. Unfortunately, when she arrived home, she found that her air conditioning was no longer working in the middle of a heat wave in West Tennessee. Read the full story to learn how Mary found a way to get the air conditioning fixed and built trust with her patient.

While caregivers make a significant difference in the lives of patients, the hard work and dedication of caregiving can take a serious toll. The many-pronged tensions of caregiving are illustrated by a young parent who recently gave birth to a female with Down syndrome. Read the full article to learn how VHAN’s Care Management team worked with the parent to ease her anxiety and connect her to childcare resources.

Several of VHAN’s contracts include triple-weighted measures, which have a larger impact on quality results. Medication adherence is particularly important, as it is triple weighted across all Medicare Advantage (MA) contracts. Additionally, medication adherence provides an opportunity for year-round focus and impact, unlike other measures that may be addressed at certain times throughout the year. VHAN’s Pharmacy Team offers tools to help your patients with medication adherence.

Returning to school can cause some children and teens anxiety, stress and depression. As young patients return to school next month, be prepared to offer them and their caregivers behavioral health support should the need arise. Read the full article for a complete list of resources VHAN offers members, patients and their caregivers.

Many who have cared for a loved one at the end of their life understand the role social workers can play in helping patients and families make their way through a stressful and emotionally charged time. Providing social work services for palliative and hospice care can be extra challenging, but for VHAN social worker team manager Cate Mart, LCSW, the connections she establishes with patients and their families make her job gratifying and worthwhile. Read the full article to learn how Cate helped one family make important end-of-life decisions.

For the past seven years, VHAN’s Beverly Puckett has served as a connection between the network and pediatric practice members who have contracted lives enrolled with VHAN. Learn more about her work as a Principal Clinical Quality Transformation Advisor.

Adolescence, those formative years between childhood and adulthood, can be a confusing and sometimes challenging time as young people go through changes both emotional and physical. It’s also a time of discovery as they learn to form their individual identity. A big part of that journey is sexuality, finding where they fit in and how they identify on the spectrum. VHAN Social Workers support young patients through all stages of life, providing behavioral health referrals when needed along the way.

For patients recovering from a recent hospitalization, trying to better manage a chronic disease or navigating a complex medical condition, VHAN’s Care Management program offers personalized care that goes beyond simply addressing physical symptoms. VHAN’s team of care navigators consider their mental, emotional and psychosocial needs as well, improving the patient experience and producing more positive outcomes. Read the full article for a real-world example of how VHAN Care Navigators go above and beyond to help patients.