PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- This week in Florida at a national conference on disease management, the head of Independence Blue Cross’ Health Management Programs, Dr. Esther Nash, will co-present a presentation that identifies effective techniques to encourage people to better manage their chronic diseases.
At the 10th Annual Disease Management Congress and Exposition on Friday, September 23, Dr. Nash, the Senior Medical Director of Health Management Programs, will present the findings with Dr. David Costello, Senior Vice President of Outreach Analytics & Planning at Health Dialog. The presentation will explain the creative strategies that Independence Blue Cross (IBC) has used to engage millions of its members managing diabetes, asthma and other chronic diseases through its Connections(SM) Health Management Program. IBC’s disease management program is managed in conjunction with Health Dialog, a care management service provider.
“IBC’s Connections(SM) Health Management Program is one of the leading disease management programs in the nation,” said Dr. Nash. “This program is one of the many ways that we provide our members with the tools and information to become active partners in their health care.
“To ensure that our members get the most out of our disease management program, we have developed patient engagement strategies that are flexible enough to work in varied geographical regions and health care markets,” said Dr. Nash. “The key is to support our members and their physicians wherever they live or work.”
Drs. Nash and Costello will discuss how to design communication tools with member and provider input, assess the effectiveness of outreach strategies in disease management, and meet the challenges of providing a national disease management program. The presentation is entitled “Creating Patient and Provider Behavior Change in a Large National Health Plan Utilizing Novel Member Engagement Strategies.”
Introduced in 2003, IBC’s Connections Programs help members dealing with everyday health concerns, facing significant medical decisions or managing chronic conditions such as asthma, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) and diabetes. Connections also gives support to members with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) as well as fifteen additional complex chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis and Parkinson’s disease.
Connections helps a member with a chronic disease or those facing decisions about treatment options by providing a Health Coach - a specially trained health professional - 24 hours a day, seven days a week; offering Healthwise(R) Knowledgebase, an online database with a wealth of health information; informative videotapes and audio library for use upon request; and sending print materials.
To date, nearly 85 percent of Medicare members and 50 percent of IBC’s commercial managed care members with chronic conditions have consulted a health coach to learn more about their condition.
The disease management conference, now in its 10th year, will take place from September 21-23 at the Omni Orlando Resort in Florida. The three-day symposium will feature keynote speakers Elizabeth Edwards, a breast cancer survivor who will draw on her experience to talk about breast cancer disease management, and Dr. Paul J. Wallace, executive director of Kaiser Permanente’s Care Management Institute, who will talk about encouraging members to do the right thing.
The annual conference reviews the most objective and up-to-date information about the development of cost-effective, quality-based programs for preventing and managing diseases.
Health Dialog is a leading provider of care management services, including disease management, and is one of the fastest growing privately held firms in the U.S. The firm helps physician groups, health plans, and self-insured employers improve healthcare quality while reducing overall costs. The firm’s services include analytic services and telephonic and other care management support for individuals. Health Dialog helps individuals become more actively engaged in their healthcare and have more effective relationships with their physicians.
Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurer in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Nationwide, IBC and its affiliates provide coverage to nearly 3.5 million people.
This month, Independence Blue Cross’s Personal Choice was rated the No. 1 PPO in the nation and its Keystone HMO was ranked as the No. 1 HMO in the region by health care consumers in a leading independent consumer magazine.
For more than 65 years, Independence Blue Cross has offered quality health care products and services tailored to meet the changing needs of members, employers, groups and providers. For more information on Independence Blue Cross, visit our website at http://www.ibx.com.
Independence Blue Cross
CONTACT: Liz Williams of Independence Blue Cross, +1-215-241-2220
Web site: http://www.ibx.com/
