July 5, 2004

Patient-Centered, Physician-Guided Care Must Guide Medicare's Chronic Care Improvement Program Says ACP; Evidence-Based Clinical Decision Support Should be A Key Requirement

6/30/2004 9:40:00 AM


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To: National Desk

Contact: Jack Pope, 202-261-4556 or jpope@acponline.org, Jacquelyn Blaser, 202-261-4572, or jblaser@acponline.org, both of the American College of Physicians

WASHINGTON, June 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The new Medicare Chronic Care Improvement (CCI) pilot program must include at least one demonstration site, which focuses on "patient-centered, physician- guided" care, said the American College of Physicians (ACP) in a June 23 letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mark McClellan, MD.

Congress created the pilot program in recognition of the current fragmented care provided chronically ill Medicare patients under fee-for-service. Under Section 721 of the Medicare Modernization ACT (MMA) the CMS administrator must establish CCI pilot programs in ten different sites. The results of these test programs will be evaluated and ultimately become a permanent part of Medicare.

Press Release: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=109-06302004

Posted by gruwell at July 5, 2004 10:43 PM