Report Explores Challenges of Chronic Care Programs for Elderly

Main Category: Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 28 Apr 2005 - 9:00 PDT

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"Challenges in Improving Care for High-Risk Seniors in Medicare," Health Affairs: The Health Affairs Web exclusive by Marsha Gold, a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research; Timothy Lake, a senior researcher at the organization; and colleagues examines the California HealthCare Foundation's Program for Elders in Managed Care, an effort to improve care for high-risk seniors. According to the report, improving care for frail elderly individuals is "very difficult, and multiple previous efforts have failed to affect Medicare costs and health care outcomes." Based on its evaluation of PEMC, the report highlights five areas to consider for groups setting up chronic care programs: creating realistic outcome goals, matching interventions to problems, understanding implementation fundamentals, establishing a proper role for evaluating the program and taking advantage of opportunities under the new Medicare law (Gold et al., Health Affairs, 4/26).

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