Definition
A Care Team in Salesforce (primarily in Health Cloud) is a group of individuals (such as doctors, nurses, social workers, and family members) who are collectively responsible for a patient's care. The Care Team is associated with an Account or Care Plan and tracks each member's role, contact information, and relationship to the patient, facilitating coordinated care delivery.
Real-World Example
Consider a scenario where a service operations lead at ShieldGuard Security is working with Care Team to deliver consistent, high-quality support across all customer channels. Care Team ensures that every inquiry follows the same process, agents have access to relevant customer history, and managers can track performance metrics in real time.
Why Care Team Matters
Care Team is a Health Cloud object that captures the group of individuals collectively responsible for a patient's care. Each Care Team Member record links a specific person (typically a User, Contact, or Account) to a patient and defines their role on the team (physician, nurse, social worker, care coordinator, family member). The team provides a single view of everyone involved in the patient's care, which is essential for coordination and communication, especially for patients with complex needs that span multiple disciplines.
Care Teams are typically attached to an Account (the patient) or a Care Plan, and team composition can change over time as the patient's needs evolve. Care Team Members can be internal Salesforce users (providers and staff) or external Contacts (family members, outside specialists), which accommodates real-world care coordination where not everyone on the team works for the same organization. Reporting on Care Team composition helps healthcare organizations ensure patients have the right mix of care providers and identify gaps in team coverage.
How Organizations Use Care Team
- •Coastal Health — Maintains Care Teams for every patient in their high-risk population. Each team includes a primary care physician, a care coordinator, relevant specialists, and at least one family member, which gives the care coordinator visibility into who to contact for any issue.
- •Wellness Partners — Uses Care Teams to support shared decision-making for complex cases. Team members can add notes and collaborate within Salesforce, giving the patient a unified care experience even when multiple providers are involved.
- •Nimbus Health — Tracks Care Team composition reports to make sure every high-risk patient has the minimum recommended team members. Patients missing a care coordinator or primary care provider are flagged for follow-up.