Initiative Tackles Chronic Disease Management

Initiative Tackles Chronic Disease Management : "'Experience has shown that if you do everything in the planned-care model but don't include self management, you're only going to get so far. Patient self-management is the critical piece, and this initiative gives us tools to incorporate true patient self-management -- such as patient goal-setting -- into a typical busy family medicine practice. That's one of the reasons it's so exciting,' said Safford.

'Self-management support is the most important intervention physicians can do to improve patient outcomes,' said FP David Swieskowski, M.D., M.B.A., vice president of Mercy Clinics Inc. in Des Moines, Iowa. 'The New Health Partnerships pilot collaborative provided both the knowledge and the motivation to implement (self-management support) in Mercy Clinics,' he added."