What's New | July 07, 2008

Management of Chronic Illnesses

More than 90 million Americans live with a chronic illness and many live with more than one. Seventy-five percent of the nation's aggregate health care spending is devoted to treating chronic illnesses.

Health care providers and payers have responded to this challenge by developing innovations in disease and/or care management services.

Featured Innovations:

• Bilingual, Bicultural Asthma Intervention Program Significantly Improves Outcomes for Poor, Inner-City Youth

• Plan-Funded, Practice-Based Care Coordinator, Disease Management Services, and Financial Incentives Lead to Better Outcomes and Reduced Costs for Medicare Advantage Enrollees

Featured QualityTools:

• Child Asthma Risk Assessment Tool^© (CARAT)
Developed by National Cooperative Inner-City Asthma Study

• Designing and Implementing Medicaid Care Management Programs: A User’s Guide
Developed by The Lewin Group

• Patient Self-Management Support Programs: An Evaluation
Developed by RAND Health

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Also in This Issue:

Innovations >

• Crisis Management Simulation Course Receives Positive Reviews, Enhances Communication and Teamwork Among Labor and Delivery Practitioners During Crises

• Individualized, In-Home Program Identifies and Addresses Environmental Problems That Can Worsen Asthma Control

• Remote Visits by Pediatricians for Sick Children at Inner-City and Other Child Care Centers/Schools Reduce Absences and Emergency Department Use

• Revised Consent Process Based on Customized, Easy-to-Understand Form Enhances Patient Understanding and Decisionmaking for Cardiac Catheterization

• Six-Sigma Inspired Workflow Redesign Leads to Better Adherence to Evidence-Based Protocols and Fewer Infections for Surgery Patients

• Practice-Based Teams of Clinicians and Development Experts Enhance Access to Care and Improve Parenting Skills and Knowledge Among Children and Their Families

QualityTools >

• Becoming a High Reliability Organization: Operational Advice for Hospital Leaders
Developed by Delmarva Foundation; The Lewin Group

• Cultural Competence Health Practitioner Assessment
Developed by National Center for Cultural Competence, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development

• Health Information Technology Survey Compendium

Developed by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

• Healthy People 2010
Developed by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• HIV/AIDS: A Manual for Faith Communities
Developed by National Coalition of Pastors' Spouses; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• Inner-City Asthma Study Questionnaires
Developed by Inner-City Asthma Study

• Lean Hospitals: Six Sigma and Lean Healthcare Forms
Developed by Lean Hospitals

• Pay for Performance: A Decision Guide for Purchasers
Developed by Harvard University; University of California, San Francisco