Managing the Disease

Disease management tips for employers

By Annmarie Geddes Lipold

Disease management has proven its ability to produce significant clinical, economic and humanistic outcomes. But there is much to consider. Here are some pointers, provided by the Disease Management Association of America:

• Confirm that senior management is supportive of disease management. Too often, senior management is unaware of the resources needed to properly design, develop and implement disease management programs.

• Consider that in-house disease management programs may be poorly received by employees for some of the more "sensitive" diseases, such as depression.

• Expect less "performance" from programs that do not include timely access to data sources, such as claims data and prescription utilization information.

• Network with other employers who have tested the use of "positive" incentives to encourage participation and compliance with various disease management interventions. For example, employers with strong work-site health management programs have demonstrated excellent results.

• Insure that your disease management programs include behavior change components as opposed to simply educational materials. Disease management programs that aggressively use various behavior change models fare better than those without these tools.

• Explore programs that address the entire person… not just one or more individual disease states. The industry has come to recognize many patients have co-morbid conditions that require a non-fragmented approach. Although single-state disease management programs will not disappear, the trend is moving toward disease management companies that handle multiple diseases.

• Recognize that patient/employee health beliefs will likely be more highly correlated to their utilization of services than the clinical status of the patient itself. Employers, via company Intranets, have great potential to shape "health belief" through predictive modeling systems that have only recently become available in the market.

• Try outsourcing your initial attempt at disease management. Much can be learned by "going to school" with disease management vendors that have developed specialized capabilities.

• Recognize the difference between "disease management light" programs versus more comprehensive programs that meet the definition developed by the Disease Management Association of America. Reliable vendors will be able to share results with you.

More Business & Health Articles on Disease Management:

Disease Management Comes of Age, Not a Moment too Soon

Resource Links:

Disease Management Association of America
http://www.dmaa.org