Improving Chronic Illness Care
Improving Chronic Illness Care

News & Events

New CD: Transforming Primary Care
We have just completed the third, and last, CD in our Chronic Illness Solutions series: "Transforming Primary Care:  What Works and What's Next".  If you would like to receive a copy via U.S. Mail, please use the link below.  We ship single copies of this CD only, and encourage its duplication for personal or non-commercial purposes.  Kindly include your physical mailing address in your message. 
Patient-Centered Medical Home improves care, lowers costs
In a two-year evaluation at Group Health Cooperative, transforming primary care into a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model paid off. Published in the May 2010 Health Affairs and co-authored by MacColl Institute/ICIC researchers Katie Coleman and Robert Reid, the evaluation compared the medical home prototype to Group Health’s other medical centers, showing:
  • The quality of care was higher, patients reported having better experiences, and clinicians said they felt less “burned out.”
  • Patients in the PCMH had 29 percent fewer emergency visits and 6 percent fewer hospitalizations, resulting in a net savings of $10 per patient per month.
  • For every dollar Group Health invested, mostly to boost staffing, it recouped $1.50.
This evaluation prompted Group Health to spread the medical home to all 26 of its medical centers, which it finished doing in January 2010.
Making Health Systems Work for People with Chronic Conditions
In a recent publication from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, ICIC Director Ed Wagner touches on background events that helped lead to the development of today's Chronic Care Model.   This article provides an overview of the history of the Improving Chronic Illness Care program, and links to RWJF's strategy for continuing this work through their Aligning Forces for Quality program.