Back in January, Amy Berman developed and I spoke at a forum at the Engelberg Center for Health Reform at the Brookings Institution. In partnership with The SCAN Foundation, we sponsored this conference to explore ways to provide better and more cost-effective care to older Americans with chronic diseases. Our blog posts at the time reflect our thinking of ten months past.
We’re happy to announced that Brookings recently published a report based on that meeting, entitled, “Achieving Better Chronic Care at Lower Costs Across the Health Care Continuum for Older Americans,” available as a PDF on our website as well as Brookings'. The report identifies payment and care delivery systems that could help bend the cost curve by helping older Americans manage their chronic conditions more efficiently. It also explores the need for a larger and better-trained geriatric workforce, team care, health IT, and care coordination. It features the work of the speakers, which included such long-time leaders and Foundation go-to reformers as: Chad Boult, Diane Meier, David Dorr, June Simmons, Julie Bynum, Steve Dawson, Mary Naylor, and David Reuben along with Federal representatives Kathy Greenlee, Richard Frank, and MedPAC member and Visiting Nurse Service of New York CEO, Carol Raphael.
I think the ideas hold up very well. Chronic illness is the top driver of medical costs, as well as disability and premature death among older adults. If you would like to find out the latest thinking on how we can help patients meet their treatment goals and achieve a better quality of life while coping with long-term illness, I urge you to take a look at the report. If you have a few minutes, you could also listen to Mark McClellan's framing and my remarks on the issues in some video taken from the session at The Brookings Institution. Please comment to let us know what you think.