Researchers in public health, in order to address the high costs of patients with chronic conditions, designed a new nursing program that they have piloted around the Baltimore and Washington, DC metropolitan areas.  The program matches chronic ailment patients with skilled nurses who can coordinate their care with the patient's family, insurance company and primary care physician.  Since the logistics of healthcare are often so complex, Guided Care nurses seek to simplify the process and ensure that the patient does not incur unnecessary costs.

The Guided Care program seeks to reduce healthcare costs and increase the quality of care particularly for patients with chronic conditions.

Guided Care Nurses (GCNs) design individual Care Guides for patients with chronic conditions.  GCNs can then manage each Care Guide electronically, allowing them to coordinate individual needs with information about chronic conditions and treatment policies.  The digitization of care allows for easier communication between all parties involved.  The GCN on each case works from a primary care office, but provides the services of an active field agent on behalf of the hospital.  The Nurses' care is geared to reduce costs preventatively.  In other words, effectively coordinated care -- the plan argues, and has demonstrated empirically -- will reduce hospital and Emergency Room visits so as to reduce the continuing healthcare costs of the chronic condition.

The plan requires the insurance companies and -- in turn -- patients fund the GCNs' salaries and the electronic resources that they use in order to provide the care.   Each nurse cares for between 50 and 60 patients at one time.