Disease management programs for the underserved.
Disease management has become an important tool for improving population patient outcomes. The Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division (HCSD) has used this tool to provide care to a largely uninsured population for approximately 10 years. Eight programs currently exist within the HCSD focusing on diabetes, asthma, congestive heart failure, HIV, cancer screening, smoking cessation, chronic kidney disease, and diet, exercise, and weight control. These programs operate at hospital and clinic sites located in 8 population centers throughout southern Louisiana. The programs are structured to be managed at the system level with a clinical expert for each area guiding the scope of the program and defining new goals. Care largely adheres to evidence-based guidelines set forth by professional organizations. To monitor quality of care, indicators are defined within each area and benchmarked to achieve the most effective measures in our population. For example, hemoglobin A1c levels have shown improvements with nearly 54% of the population <7.0%. To support these management efforts, HCSD utilizes an electronic data repository that allows physicians to track patient labs and other tests as well as reminders. To ensure appropriate treatment, patients are able to enroll in the Medication Assistance program. This largely improves adherence to medications for those patients unable to afford them otherwise.
Horswell
Ronald
R
Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70821-1308, USA. rhorsw@lsuhsc.edu
Butler
Michael K
MK
Kaiser
Michael
M
Moody-Thomas
Sarah
S
McNabb
Shannon
S
Besse
Jay
J
Abrams
Amir
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008145:Louisiana; D008297:Male; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D008875:Middle Aged; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods