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2023 JUN 10 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- A new study on Clinical Trial Research is now available. According to [...]

Background: Randomized, controlled trials have shown that nurse-led disease management for patients with heart failure can reduce hospitalizations. Less is known about the cost-effectiveness of these interventions. Objective: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of a nurse-led disease management intervention over 12 months, implemented in a randomized, controlled effectiveness trial. Design: Cost-effectiveness analysis conducted alongside a randomized trial. Data Sources: Medical costs from administrative records, and self-reported quality of life and nonmedical costs from patient surveys. Participants: Patients with systolic dysfunction recruited from ambulatory clinics in Harlem, New York. Time Horizon: 12 months. Perspective: Societal and payer. Intervention: 12-month program that involved 1 face-to-face encounter with a nurse and regular telephone follow-up. Outcome Measures: Quality of life as measured by the Health Utilities Index Mark 3 and EuroQol-5D and cost-effectiveness as measured by the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Results of Base-Case Analysis: Costs and quality of life were higher in the nurse-managed group than the usual care group. The ICERs over 12 months were $17 543 per EuroQol-5D-based quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) and $15 169 per Health Utilities Index Mark 3-based QALY (in 2001 U.S. dollars). Results of Sensitivity Analysis: From a payer perspective, the ICER ranged from $3673 to $4495 per QALY. Applying national prices in place of New York City prices yielded a societal ICER of $13 460 to $15 556 per QALY. Cost-effectiveness acceptability curves suggest that the intervention was most likely cost-effective for patients with less severe (New York Heart Association classes I to II) heart failure. Limitation: The trial was conducted in an ethnically diverse, inner-city neighborhood; thus, results may not be generalizable to other communities. Conclusion: Over 12 months, the nurse-led disease management program was a reasonably cost-effective way to reduce the burden of heart failure in this community.

In the previous column, I discussed the urgency for significant change in our healthcare system. The column also introduced the idea of change concepts, which are simple, homogenous ideas that [...]

The use of comprehensive case management in the public health sector is examined from the viewpoint of transaction cost analysis. Comprehensive case management is defined as a multidisciplinary, community-based service intended to augment the utilization of health and social services and to provide concurrent attention to the medical and social needs of individuals within their family and community settings. It is concluded that while case management lessens costs incurred with individual patients, it tends to increase costs to organizations and the entire system when hierarchies and markets falter.

A pilot program in the cardiac surgical service resulted in a $1.3 million reduction in patient charges while quality patient outcomes were sustained. Pivotal to the success of the program was the implementation of the case manager role., Economic trends continue to favor rising competition among providers in the delivery of cost effective hospital services. Consumers require "friendly services" while quality standards and excellent clinical outcomes are maintained. [...]

Disease management is changing its stripes, or at least it's developing new ones. With the launch of Medicare's Chronic Care Improvement Program, the industry is developing new methods to work [...]

Disease management programs not only make perfect sense from a cost-saving standpoint, they also produce better health care consumers who become healthier and happier employees. It's a message that Wausau [...]

2002 AUG 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- QMed, Inc., (QMED) announced that it has launched its project for coronary artery disease in the much anticipated Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration [...]

BALTIMORE -- Consider these thoughts: "Neither fee-for-service nor Medicare + Choice is adequately configured to provide services for chronically ill beneficiaries," and "the Medicare data system is set up to [...]

The specter of a burgeoning elderly population rife with chronic diseases that drive up health care costs has sparked policymakers' interest in implementing disease management programs as a staple in [...]

Benefits Managers Believe Case Mgt. Cuts Costs: Study ATLANTA - Employee benefits managers at mid-sized U.S. companies believe soaring employee health care costs can be controlled with effective case management [...]

NSW Health is set to overhaul chronic disease management, with only one fifth of patients with a chronic disease currently enrolled in a chronic care collaboratives program. NSW Health deputy [...]

As the spiraling cost of healthcare continues to strain federal and state budgets, state Medicaid agencies are looking for powerful, workable solutions to the crisis. Alternatives are needed that do […]

BALTIMORE -- Consider these thoughts: 'Neither fee-for-service nor Medicare + Choice is adequately configured to provide services for chronically ill beneficiaries,' and 'the Medicare data system is set up to [...]

There's got to be a better way to deliver care for Medicare beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). To find out, CMS has started a 4-year demonstration project in which [...]

BALTIMORE -- Consider these thoughts: "Neither fee-for-service nor Medicare + Choice is adequately configured to provide services for chronically ill beneficiaries," and "the Medicare data system is set up to [...]

Thompson Pushes For Medicare DM. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson urgently wants to explore options like capitated payments for organizations that Would undertake disease management for Medicare enrollees, [...]