Coordination with specialists involves a team of healthcare professionals collaborating to manage a patient’s comprehensive care, ensuring all health issues are considered and treatment plans are aligned. Key aspects include transparent information sharing between providers, reducing duplicate tests, preventing care gaps, and improving patient outcomes, especially for those with chronic conditions requiring multiple specialists. This effort ensures personalized care that addresses the patient’s overall needs and preferences through organized communication and planning.

When doctors and other health care providers work together and share information, patient’s needs and preferences are known and communicated at the right time to the right people, and the information is used to provide safe, appropriate, and effective care. This can help to keep patients healthier longer, better manage chronic conditions and experience care that is consistent with their goals.

When doctors and other health care providers don’t communicate effectively with each other treatments prescribed by different doctors for a patient’s different health issues might conflict or become unmanageable for the patient. The patient is more likely to get unnecessary repeat tests.  These effects can have a larger negative impact on chronically ill patients or patients with multiple complex health conditions.