Senior Citizens to Learn How to Manage Their Chronic
Diseases from New Programs
Recovery Act funds $27 million in grants to reduce
chronic disease and health disparities
March 30, 2010 Many senior citizens may learn how
to manage their chronic disease condition and take better control of
their health from new programs being funded by $27 million in grants,
according to an announcement today by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Communities Putting Prevention to Work Chronic
Disease Self-Management Program, funded by the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009, will allow 45 states, Puerto Rico and the
District of Columbia to provide self-management programs to older adults
with chronic diseases build statewide delivery systems and develop the
workforce that delivers these programs.
Prevention activities can strengthen the nations
healthcare infrastructure and reduce healthcare costs, said Secretary
Sebelius. These new grants will provide an important opportunity for
states, tribes, territories and communities to advance public health
across the lifespan and to help reduce or eliminate health
disparities.
Chronic disease can negatively affect quality of
life and threaten the ability of older adults to remain independent
within their own homes and communities. The more chronic diseases an
individual has, the more likely that individual will become
hospitalized. Two-thirds of Medicare spending is for beneficiaries with
five or more chronic conditions.
The number of older adults with chronic conditions
will increase dramatically in the coming years as our aging population
grows, said Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee, whose agency,
the Administration on Aging (AoA), will administer the grants.
This
opportunity will allow states to build the foundation for an
infrastructure that embeds health prevention programs into the nations
health and long term care system and expands a system of care that
addresses the growing prevalence of chronic conditions.
The Stanford University Chronic Disease
Self-Management Program, which serves as a model for this initiative,
emphasizes the patients role in managing their illness and building
their self-confidence so they can be successful in adopting healthy
behaviors.
The first baby boomers will turn 65 in 2011 and of
these, more than 37 million or 6 out of 10 - will be managing more
than one chronic condition by 2030. For example, 14 million boomers
will be living with diabetes while almost half of the boomers will live
with arthritis (that number peaks to just over 26 million in 2020).
State agencies on aging, public health departments,
and Medicaid agencies will work together to support the deployment of
evidence-based chronic disease self-management programs targeted at
older adults with chronic conditions. Grantees will serve at least
50,000 older adults and gather evidence regarding the impact of these
programs on health behavior and the health status outcomes of the
participants.
Two federal evaluation activities will complement
required state reporting. Additionally, AoA will collaborate with the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop a pilot test
in one state as a quality assurance process that will track Medicare
claims data of chronic disease self-management program participants and
Medicare beneficiaries not participating in the program. Data from all
these sources will be used to assess the impact of this Recovery Act
program on participant health behaviors, health status, health care
utilization and health care costs.
A list of the amount of funds being awarded in each
state is below this news report.
March 30, 2010 Many senior citizens may learn how
to manage their chronic disease condition and take better control of
their health from new programs being funded by $27 million in grants,
according to an announcement today by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Services.
This
opportunity will allow states to build the foundation for an
infrastructure that embeds health prevention programs into the nations
health and long term care system and expands a system of care that
addresses the growing prevalence of chronic conditions.