Coordinated care program cuts costs for members with chronic illness

The population of individuals in the United States with multiple chronic illnesses is growing rapidly, yet the traditional FFS delivery model doesn’t provide them with optimum care.

“Frankly, we do a really poor job managing this group,” says Kate O’Malley, RN, MS, a geriatric nurse practitioner who is senior program officer at the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) in Oakland, where she works with the CHCF program to improve chronic disease care. “Sometimes, I feel like healthcare delivery is like a conveyor belt. Everybody does their own thing as the patient moves down the conveyor belt, but nobody really integrates the patient’s care.”