Care Coordination and Communication

Healthcare works best when everyone stays on the same page. This glossary section explains how communication and collaboration happen between patients, families, and care teams. Here you’ll find terms about referrals, team-based care, continuity, and transitions between settings. Understanding these words helps you manage information flow, prevent delays, and ensure that nothing gets lost between visits. Care coordination isn’t just a system responsibility—it’s a skill patients can learn. These terms show you how to stay organized and keep your care connected.

Fragmented Care

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Fragmented care occurs when healthcare services are provided without proper coordination or communication among providers, settings, systems, or care teams.

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Inside a busy hospital, a distressed older woman clings to a masked nurse in blue scrubs who embraces her with gloved hands. The woman’s face is pressed against the nurse’s shoulder, eyes closed, overwhelmed with emotion. In the background, other medical professionals tend to patients in hospital beds, signaling an urgent and high-stress environment. This emotional scene captures the aftermath of a medical crisis. Delayed Care is a situation where a patient does not receive timely medical attention, leading to worsened health outcomes, increased complications, or higher healthcare costs. This moment reflects the emotional and physical toll that can result when necessary care is postponed too long.

Delayed Care

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Delayed Care is a situation where a patient does not receive timely medical attention, leading to worsened health outcomes, increased complications, or higher healthcare costs.

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A cheerful female healthcare worker in blue scrubs crouches beside a man in a wheelchair outside a healthcare facility. She is adjusting the wheelchair's footrests with care and smiling warmly at the camera. The man, dressed casually in jeans and a navy button-up shirt, also smiles, appearing at ease and comfortable. Behind them, glass doors and potted plants indicate they are near a hospital or clinic entrance. This compassionate moment illustrates Care Transition: the process of moving a patient from one healthcare setting to another, highlighting the human connection and attentiveness essential to supporting patients during vulnerable times.

Care Transition

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Care transition is the process of moving a patient from one healthcare setting to another.

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