Managing chronic illness: physician practices increased the use of care management and medical home processes.

TitleManaging chronic illness: physician practices increased the use of care management and medical home processes.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsWiley JA, Rittenhouse DR, Shortell SM, Casalino LP, Ramsay PP, Bibi S, Ryan AM, Copeland KR, Alexander JA
JournalHealth Aff (Millwood)
Volume34
Issue1
Pagination78-86
Date Published2015 Jan
ISSN1544-5208
KeywordsAsthma, Chronic Disease, Cost Control, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Depressive Disorder, Diabetes Mellitus, Evidence-Based Medicine, Health Care Reform, Health Care Surveys, Heart Failure, Humans, Patient Care Management, Patient-Centered Care, Practice Patterns, Physicians', Quality Assurance, Health Care, Reimbursement, Incentive, United States, Utilization Review
Abstract

The effective management of patients with chronic illnesses is critical to bending the curve of health care spending in the United States and is a crucial test for health care reform. In this article we used data from three national surveys of physician practices between 2006 and 2013 to determine the extent to which practices of all sizes have increased their use of evidence-based care management processes associated with patient-centered medical homes for patients with asthma, congestive heart failure, depression, and diabetes. We found relatively large increases over time in the overall use of these processes for small and medium-size practices as well as for large practices. However, the large practices used fewer than half of the recommended processes, on average. We also identified the individual processes whose use increased the most and show that greater use of care management processes is positively associated with public reporting of patient experience and clinical quality and with pay-for-performance.

DOI10.1377/hlthaff.2014.0404
Alternate JournalHealth Aff (Millwood)
PubMed ID25561647
Category: 
Faculty Publication