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Chronic Care Improvement: How Medicare Transformation Can Save Lives, Save Money, and Stimulate an Emerging Technology Industry is an ITAA Whitepaper describing how health information technology can enable a Medicare transformation that would save lives and save money. The analysis is based on the chronic care model, telehealth technology, and results of Health Hero Network within the Veterans Administration Health System.

ITAA Press Release: Chronic Care Improvements Could Yield $30 Billion Savings

10-May-04

Arlington, VA – A new white paper from the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) finds that improvements to the care of Medicare patients with severe chronic conditions could prevent 1.7 million hospitalizations and produce net savings of over $30 billion annually.

“With the Medicare system standing at the brink of insolvency, we know that something must be done,” said ITAA President Harris N. Miller. “By changing Medicare’s emphasis from treating sickness to preserving wellness, America stands to reap enormous rewards. This white paper demonstrates that adopting a technology-based model of chronic care delivery–already proven at the U.S. Veterans Administration–can save taxpayers’ money while helping health care recipients lead longer, happier and healthier lives.”

The ITAA white paper notes that eight million Medicare beneficiaries with five or more chronic diseases-diseases like coronary artery disease, diabetes, hypertension and asthma-account for over two-thirds of the program’s $302 billion in 2004 spending. Moreover, at least 45 percent of the U.S. population, nearly 132 million people, suffers from one or more chronic diseases.

ITAA based its estimate of a $30 billion annual savings by extrapolating the savings produced in a model Veterans Affairs initiative that is focused on improving communication and coordination of chronic care delivery. In one instance, the integrated, technology-based chronic care delivery programs at the Veterans Integrated Services Network in Florida showed a 40 percent reduction in emergency room visits, a 63 percent decrease in hospital admissions, a 60 percent drop in bed days of care, a 64 percent decrease in nursing home admissions, and an 88 percent reduction in nursing home bed days of care. Patient satisfaction rates topped 90 percent. The VA is striving to expand care coordination to 1.2 million veterans by 2008.

ITAA said elements of a technology-based chronic care program must include:

* Communication to support frequent contact with individuals living with chronic disease. The communication should be able to provide the disease management professional with information about the health of the Medicare beneficiary and provide a vehicle for the professional to give feedback to that beneficiary. Such a solution should rely on modern electronic or Internet-based tools to enable frequent and reliable communication between caregiver and patient;
* Personalized patient guidance and education. Technologies exist that can easily guide patients and enable self-assessment, and self-care education. In-home communication devices or Internet-based applications can be integrated with clinical information databases to allow for personalization of patient guidance and self-care education;
* Coordination of care. Technology solutions provide a flow of relevant clinical information that designated care coordinators can use to facilitate collaboration among a patient’s health care providers;
* Quality improvement. An integrated system of electronic communication devices, decision-support tools, and clinical information databases is the best way to ensure and monitor the implementation of evidence-based practice guidelines;
* Accountability. Electronic systems that guide and educate patients and decision-support tools should be integrated with clinical information databases to measure chronic care improvement program outcomes.

ITAA called on policymakers to gain the benefits of chronic care transformation by requiring that Medicare chronic care improvement programs mandated under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 embrace approaches that integrate in-home monitoring and communication devices, decision support tools, and clinical information databases; use the authority granted by the Medicare bill to push for faster, more wide-ranging roll-outs of proven chronic improvement strategies; and use the power of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to push the U.S. health care delivery system to adopt the chronic care improvement model.

The new white paper, titled Chronic Care Improvement: How Medicare Transformation Can Save Lives, Save Money, and Stimulate an Emerging Technology Industry, is available on the ITAA website.

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) provides global public policy, business networking, and national leadership to promote the continued rapid growth of the IT industry. ITAA consists of over 400 corporate members throughout the U.S., and a global network of 53 countries’ IT associations. The Association plays the leading role in issues of IT industry concern including information security, taxes and finance policy, digital intellectual property protection, telecommunications competition, workforce and education, immigration, online privacy and consumer protection, government IT procurement, human resources and e-commerce policy. ITAA members range from the smallest IT start-ups to industry leaders in the Internet, software, IT services, ASP, digital content, systems integration, telecommunications, and enterprise solution fields. For more information visit www.itaa.org.