Healthcare :: A Practical Way to Improve Care for Patients with Chronic Disease

In the second of two essays in this issue to explore innovative staffing models, Zweifler argues for the integration of dedicated chronic disease management workers into the primary care practice.

He asserts that office-based chronic disease management workers can improve the quality of care for patients with chronic diseases and increase the satisfaction of both physicians and patients by offering self-management support, maintaining disease registries, and monitoring compliance from the point of care.

They also can provide the missing link by connecting patients, families and physicians with disease management services available through health plans or in the community. He suggests that California’s well-established Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program offers a good payment model for reimbursing primary care offices for defined chronic disease management services.

The Missing Link: Improving Quality With a Chronic Disease Management Intervention for the Primary Care Office
By John Zweifler, M.D., M.P.H.