The Next Big Strategy for Improving Health Care: Whole Person Service

Over the years, health care has continued to evolve its model to work towards establishing a better system and improved outcomes for patients. For health care professionals, part of this evolution has been a growing acknowledgement that a person’s health is a result of many complex and interconnecting factors that occur outside a single appointment or interaction with a doctor and are a central part of patient’s lives.

As a result, taking a more holistic approach to care has grown in popularity to address crucial gaps in care programs and care needs. A shift to more holistic health care in recent years has been reflected by the industry’s focus on health maintenance organizations (HMOs), to managed care organizations (MCOs), to experimenting with value-based payment and other models. Perhaps most notably though, addressing social determinants of health (SDoH) has emerged as a pillar and priority for providing more holistic care.

Despite this increased focus on improving health outcomes, the US health care system continues to face numerous challenges to do so. Health care costs are rising at unprecedented rates and show no signs of slowing—with national health care spending projected to increase by 5.4% annually and representing almost 20% of the GDP.

Additionally, mental and behavioral health issues have reached crisis levels and have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Four in 10 adults reported signs of anxiety or depression in 2021, up 30% since 2019. Likewise, 13% of adults reported new alcohol and substance use issues as a result of the pandemic.

There is no doubt the health care system has a long way to go towards achieving better and more cost-effective care. However, taking a whole person service approach, or holistically addressing a recipient’s medical, mental, and socioeconomic well-being as part of care program to restore and sustain the person’s self-sufficiency, will play a big role in driving better outcomes for patients now and in the future.

What is Whole Person Service?

Whole person service is a more holistic approach to care—encompassing and bridging health and social services to improve care coordination and personalization, well-being, and health outcomes for individuals. It goes beyond a patient’s immediate, singular health concern and instead takes a comprehensive view of past, current, and future care to drive sustainable wellness. For example, connecting someone who is experiencing homelessness with a homeless shelter for the night is a good way to address that immediate concern. However, helping them find and maintain a meaningful job to address ongoing food scarcities, find shelter, get treatment for chronic conditions, and provide support for their family is a whole person approach for long-term support.

The framework for whole person service would resemble the following:

Individuals that need immediate attention: Someone who is brought to the emergency room with a pressing health issue is treated for that condition (frostbite, malnutrition, an overdose, etc).

Individuals who are at risk: Once recovered from their medical treatment, the person is still at risk from future incidents if there are no improvements to their situation. They should receive supplemental assistance to become more self-sufficient, which will ultimately result in improved health outcomes.

Individuals who are out of risk: Once individuals can successfully take care of themselves, they should still receive advisory guidance to sustain their self-sufficient situation and ensure they are on track.

Challenges to Adopting Whole Person Service and How to Address Them

Taking a whole person service approach comes with a variety of challenges that must be overcome to bring this strategy to fruition.

Specifically, states will need expanded data access and intelligent technology capabilities to create and execute whole person services. Health and human service agencies often have many programs to address SDoH issues. However, many vulnerable individuals are unwilling or unaware of these resources.

To address this challenge, agencies need a more holistic view of care so they can proactively identify and reach out to individuals in need of improved care coordination. This will require enhanced technological and data analytics capabilities to inform this strategic outreach, while still navigating and meeting all privacy and data security requirements.

Advanced technology and data-driven insights will play a significant role in delivering a whole person service approach and providing intelligently coordinated care to health care members. However, it can’t be done without support from the industry. There need to be policy changes from the federal and local governments, budget allotments, business process design, and much more to support this model.

While these are no small challenges, there is no doubt that providing more holistic care that bridges the gaps between medical, mental, and socioeconomic well-being will be essential towards improving health outcomes and establishing a better health care system.