BALTIMORE, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- XLHealth Chairman and CEO Patrick Hervy announced today that disease management can have a significant and positive effect on Medicaid patients' lives and on the nation's health care system. It can only be successful, however, if physicians are an integral part of the process, participants are educated and actively involved, and technology is used effectively, he said.
XLHealth Executive Vice President Paul Serini, reacting to the recent announcement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) urging states to adopt disease management programs for Medicaid patients, said that he has no doubt that effective disease management programs will cut health care costs and improve health outcomes for a substantial number of participants.
He noted, however, that there are significant challenges that must be addressed. "Anyone who has worked with Medicare participants, as we have," he said, "knows that just offering a good program does not necessarily mean it will be accepted."
Gaining participants' trust is one of the most important elements of a successful program. Medicaid participants will have to be educated about the value of disease management. "Government funded programs alone -- even with of a comprehensive prescription drug program -- do not necessarily engender trust among participants," said Serini. The key is having their physicians as part of the program along with effective ways of educating patients about their illnesses and treatment plans."
XLHealth is conducting a demonstration project in large cities and surrounding areas throughout the State of Texas aimed at improving care for chronically ill Medicare patients through disease management. The company predicts that the approximately 10,000 patients to be enrolled in the XLHealth program will see, over a three year period, in aggregate, a 50 percent reduction in amputations and other serious diabetes foot complications and a 50 percent decrease in repeat heart failure events. The company also plans to delay the progression of renal failure in diabetic patients by 25 percent.
XLHealth has been at the forefront of disease management innovations since its inception. Founded by physicians, many of whom were affiliated with Johns Hopkins, XLHealth goes beyond telephone communications with patients. The firm incorporates personal visits and counseling from medical personnel with patients as part of its disease management program.
XLHealthCONTACT: Amy Levy, +1-301-656-6212, ext. 1, or amy@levypr.com, forXLHealth
Web site: http://www.xlhealth.com/