HHS issues framework on multiple chronic conditions

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued its new Strategic Framework on Multiple Chronic Conditions -- a private-public sector collaboration to coordinate responses to mulitple chronic conditions.

According to the agency, more than a quarter of all Americans -- and two out of three older Americans -- have multiple chronic conditions, and treatment for these individuals accounts for 66 percent of the U.S. healthcare budget.

The strategic framework -- coordinated by HHS and involving input from agencies within the department and multiple private sector stakeholders -- expects to reduce the risks of complications and improve the overall health status of individuals with multiple chronic conditions by fostering change within the system; providing more information and better tools to help health professionals -- as well as patients -- learn how to better coordinate and manage care; and by facilitating research to improve oversight and care.

HHS has taken action to improve the health of individuals with multiple chronic conditions, including:

• Administration on Aging (AoA)/Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) jointly announced $67 million in grants to support outreach activities that encourage prevention and wellness, options counseling and assistance programs, and care transition programs to improve health outcomes in older Americans.

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality awarded more than $18 million in two categories of grant awards to understand how to optimize care of patients with multiple chronic conditions.

• As part of an existing $40 million Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) contract, the National Quality Forum is undertaking a project to develop and endorse a performance measurement framework for patients with multiple chronic conditions.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is supporting a project in which the Institute of Medicine will convene a committee of independent experts to examine the burden of multiple chronic conditions and the implications for population-based public health action.

• CMS has provided recent guidance to state Medicaid directors on a new optional benefit available Jan. 1, 2011, through the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act, to provide health homes for enrollees with at least two chronic conditions, or for those with one chronic condition who are at risk for another.

• FDA and ASPE launched a study to examine the extent to which individuals with multiple chronic conditions are being included or excluded from clinical trials for new therapeutic products.

• Indian Health Service has expanded its Improving Patient Care Program to nearly 100 sites across the tribal and urban Indian health system to assist in improving the quality of healthcare for patients with MCC.

• National Institutes of Health has committed $42.8 million for a study to determine whether efforts to attain a lower blood pressure range in an older adult population will reduce other chronic conditions.

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $34 million in new funding to support the Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration Program, which seeks to promote the integration of care with people with co-occurring conditions.