Five Health Care Foundations Launch Plan to Focus on High-Need, High-Cost Patients
<p>Five national health care foundations have announced a new collaboration to transform care delivery for high-need, high cost patients—people with multiple chronic illnesses as well as often challenging social needs and limited ability to care for themselves. Writing in the <em>New England Journal of Medicine</em>, leaders from The Commonwealth Fund, John A. Hartford Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Peterson Center on Healthcare, and SCAN Foundation said they will develop resources and tools to meet three urgent goals: </p><ul>
<li>understanding this diverse population</li>
<li>identifying evidence-based programs that offer high-quality integrated care at a lower cost</li>
<li>accelerating the adoption of these programs nationally.</li>
</ul>
<p>Focusing on this population is important not only because its members have complex and costly health and social needs, but because they are disproportionately affected by poor-quality care. As the population ages, the number of high-need, high-cost patients is likely to grow even larger.</p>