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Population Health Insider
 
This monthly newsletter features insightful coverage and practical tools that you can put to work immediately in your disease management program.

To view the entire newsletter issue, click the “View Entire Issue” link below

October 2008   (Volume 14, Issue 10) view entire issue
 
CMS trumpets PGP demonstration successes

The 10 groups participating in CMS’ Physician Group Practice (PGP) demonstration project received a total of $16.7 million for improving quality and efficiency of care during the project’s second performance year, according to CMS. Four groups—Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic in Bedford, NH, The Everett (WA) Clinic, Marshfield (WI) Clinic, and the University of Michigan Faculty Group Practice in Ann Arbor—earned a combined total of $13.8 million in performance payments. However, even with that windfall, groups involved in the project say the bonuses do not offset the costs associated with the program.

 
MTM program increased statin use
Educating physicians about statins resulted in more physicians prescribing the drugs and financial savings from averted major coronary events, according to a study of a medication therapy management (MTM) program. The study, “Effect of an Intervention to Increase Statin Use in Medicare Members Who Qualified for a Medication Therapy Management Program,” was published in the August Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy. It looked into Carlsbad, CA–based Prescription Solutions’ MTM program for Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plans patients. MTM programs are a key part of Medicare Part D—the idea is to use the expertise of pharmacists and pharmacy benefit managers to educate beneficiaries and the healthcare industry as a whole.
 
VillageHealth pleased with ESRD program
Traditionally, CMS has not allowed Medicare beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) to enroll in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, but an ongoing demonstration project is testing the effectiveness of DM models in improving quality of care for ESRD patients.
 
College announces chronic care degree program
A Philadelphia university will soon become the nation’s first to offer a chronic care management degree program and a doctorate in population health. The Jefferson School of Health Policy and Population Health (JSHPPH) will open its doors in 2009 with three master’s degree programs in public health, health policy, and healthcare quality and safety, as well as certificate programs in health policy and healthcare quality and safety. The quality and safety program will only be the second such program in the nation, following the program at Northwestern University School of Medicine.
 
Physician practices will need DM/population health
DM/population health organizations will experience changes and opportunities in the medical home, said speakers at a September DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance Webcast. Paul Grundy, MD, MPH, director of IBM’s healthcare, technology, and strategic initiatives and chair of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) in Washington, DC, and Bruce Bagley, MD, medical director for quality improvement of the American Academy of Family Physicians in Leawood, KS, spoke during the Webcast.
 
Weight loss helps type 2 diabetes patients
Losing weight has long-range health benefits for type 2 diabetes patients—even if the person regains the weight, according to a Kaiser Permanente Northwest study. People who lost weight soon after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis were in better control of their BP and blood sugar, the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Care reported in a September article about the study, “Weight Change in Diabetes and Glycemic and Blood Pressure Control.”
 

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