Dr. Lorig urges clinicians, therefore, to find a program in their local area and input the information once in the electronic medical record system so that it appears automatically on the patient’s discharge summary.
Currently, she says, there are about 1,000 sites in every state except Wyoming that offer these programs. She says a good place to start your search for a local program is to call the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging; other resources are listed below:
- National Association of Area Agencies on Aging
- Stanford Patient Education Research Center
- Contact Dr. Kate Lorig
Another resource Dr. Lorig suggests is the free online program offered through the Arthritis Foundation.
Disease management programs are a mechanism for having people gain skills, competence & confidence in their ability to manage their chronic illness & symptoms.
Dr. Callahan agrees that providing the contact information for the program on the discharge summary would also make the referral seamless and lift the burden of finding a program off the shoulders of the patient, where it currently lies.
She emphasizes the need for clinicians to improve their participation in referring patients to community sources, such as disease management programs, citing a model in the Institutes of Medicine report that recommends more interaction with community intervention and clinical intervention.2
Mary Beth Nierengarten is a freelance medical journalist based in St. Paul, Minn.
Resources on Disease Management Programs
- Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP)
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Administration for Community Living. Administration on Aging (AoA). American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Communities Putting Prevention to Work: Chronic Disease Self-Management Program
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Arthritis Foundation. A National Public Health Agenda for Osteoarthritis 2010
- Osteoarthritis Action Alliance
- Marks R, Allegrante JP, Lorig K. A review and synthesis of research evidence for self-efficacy-enhancing interventions for reducing chronic disability: Implications for health education practice (part I). Health Promot Pract. 2005;6(1):37–43.
- Marks R, Allegrante JP, Lorig K. A review and synthesis of research evidence for self-efficacy-enhancing interventions for reducing chronic disability: Implications for health education practice (part II). Health Promot Pract. 2005;6(2):148–156.
References
- Ahn S, Basu R, Smith ML, et al. The impact of chronic disease self-management programs: Healthcare savings through a community-based intervention. BMC Public Health. 2013 Dec 6;13:1141.
- Living Well with Chronic Illness: A Call for Public Health Action. Institute of Medicine. The National Academy Press. 2012 Jan 31.