Disease Management Results at Partners Healthcare

Timothy G. Ferris, MD, MPH, Senior Scientist at Mass General Hospital’s Institute for Health Policy and Director of Disease Management Programs, Partners Healthcare, Boston. This session includes a description of how Partners Healthcare is using technology to reduce admissions for chronically ill Medicaid patients. Timothy includes a review of evaluation data including results in physician satisfaction, patient satisfaction, and patient ED visits and hospitalizations. He describes infrastructure requirements for care management, the range of specific programs and their rationale, and trade-offs in centralized vs. point-of-care delivery of care management services. This effort is a part of a Partners “Signature Initiative”; see also the presentation and audio by Dr. James Mongan, CEO, at the SI 2006 Spring Conference.