New Strategies in Cardiovascular Disease Management Programs

More than 90 million individuals in the United States (U.S.) live with some form of chronic disease, accounting for more than 60% of the nation’s healthcare spending. Disease management programs have evolved over the last decade in response to growing demand for the management and care of patients with chronic diseases, which are prolonged illnesses that can usually be treated symptomatically to reduce disease severity and/or co-morbidities and complications, but are rarely curable. With large expenses at stake, payers have recognized the need to focus on the cost-effective management of these long-term, resource-intensive diseases, which include asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

As the leading cause of death in the U.S., and a costly healthcare issue, cardiovascular disease is, not surprisingly, a focus of disease management companies and health plans. As both providers and purchases work to maximize the effective management of cardiovascular conditions such as congestive heart failure (CHF) and coronary artery disease (CAD), they continue to seek new approaches to enhance cardiovascular disease management programs.

Initially, managed care organizations focused on the development of condition-specific algorithms, or clinical pathways, to serve as the platform for the management of patients with chronic diseases. These programs were implemented either by the treating physician or a designated disease management care nurse. Today, the Internet is transforming this process, as it influences an individual’s access to clinicians, new care processes, monitoring technology, and ultimately, his or her ability to self-manage a chronic condition. As the Internet continues to gain in acceptance and use by all age segments, it will become an increasingly important communication vehicle in the delivery of disease management services.

This report examines the new era of chronic cardiovascular disease management and the impact of recent advances in the development, implementation, and increasing adoption of related Web-enabled, cardiovascular disease monitoring technologies and management programs. With disease management companies striving to identify new approaches to the management of cardiovascular disease patients from remote locations, new opportunities have emerged for linkages between these companies’ programs and physicians, hospitals, payers, and pharmaceutical and medical device companies.