Frontline Caregivers, National Healthcare Providers Unveil What's Working In the Battle Against Chronic Disease

On March 19, nurses, doctors and healthcare workers joined CEOs from some of the country's most renowned healthcare providers to share pioneering programs that contain costs while improving the quality of chronic disease care. The event, hosted by the Partnership for Quality Care (PQC), was held in Washington, DC, steps away from Capitol Hill.

Confronting the Chronic Care Challenge, was the first in a series of meetings designed to bring quality to the center of the healthcare debate, by presenting practical solutions to some of the most difficult problems in health care today. For PQC, the concept of quality encompasses access, affordability, efficiency, and cost containment.

Chronic care patients are those suffering from recurring or persistent illnesses such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease. They represent only 20 percent of patients but account for 75 percent of health care spending.

Among the groundbreaking programs highlighted at the summit were:

• SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West and Kaiser Permanente's successful implementation of an electronic health record that has led to a 57 percent reduction in hospital medication errors;

• Montefiore Medical Center's self-designed electronic tool to monitor the health of thousands of patients and act as an essential safety net for patients with chronic conditions;

Catholic Healthcare West's post-discharge support program that reduced the cost of care by 28 percent for patients by aiding them in monitoring and managing their disease; Jackson Health System creation of a separate intake clinic to intervene and assess congestive heart failure patients, reducing re-admittance by 80 percent; Daughters of Charity Health System's "Asian Pacific Liver Center," created to address high rates of hepatitis B in the greater Los Angeles area;

Marth Baker, RN, President of SEIU Healthcare Florida 1991 and Gene Bassett, CEO of Jackson Health Systems present to the PQC Summit. Seated: (from left to right) Dr. Kaiser Lim of Mayo Clinic, and Dr. Philip Madvig of Kaiser Permanente.

• HealthPartners use of its electronic medical record system to collect patient race/ethnicity and language preference data (self-reported) and used the data to review quality metrics, identify disparities and develop strategies to eliminate disparities;
  
  
• How nurses in Washington State worked with Group Health management to improve care for patients even after they'd been discharged from the hospital.