CMS launches chronic care dashboard
A new Medicare Chronic Conditions Dashboard is designed to further the Affordable Care Act’s goals for health promotion and the prevention and management of multiple chronic conditions, according to Marilyn Tavenner, acting director of the Department of Health & Human Services. The dashboard offers researchers, physicians, public health professionals and policymakers an easy-to-use tool to get current data on where multiple chronic conditions occur, which services they require, and how much Medicare spends helping beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.
“More than two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries have multiple chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, and that number will rise with an aging population,” said Tavenner. “The Affordable Care Act addresses these health problems by making people with Medicare eligible for recommended preventive care without Part B deductibles or copayments. The healthcare law also promotes better healthcare coordination and management of chronic conditions through analysis of current data.”
The dashboard is part of HHS' Initiative on Multiple Chronic Conditions, established in 2009. The Multiple Chronic Conditions: A Strategic Framework was developed to serve as a national roadmap for HHS as well as public and private stakeholders to use to coordinate and improve the health of beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.
In calendar year 2011, spending for Medicare beneficiaries with two or more chronic conditions was about $276 billion, about 93 percent of all Medicare spending. Analytics based on dashboard data can be an important tool to support policies to help slow the growth in costs for beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions in years ahead.
The dashboard helps users find, analyze and apply summarized data from CMS’ Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse, according to a release. The dashboard will promote better understanding of overlapping medical conditions related to overall patient health, helping to identify common concurrent conditions and areas where prevention and treatment can improve care and lower costs.
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Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.