Improving Chronic Disease Care at Community Health Centers
<p>A large federal initiative to improve chronic disease care for community health center patients has significantly improved processes of care for asthma and diabetes, say Harvard Medical School researchers in a Commonwealth Fund-supported study in the <em>New England Journal of Medicine. </em><br><br><a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=27481&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecmwf%2Eorg%2Fpublications%2Fpublications%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D470594%26%23doc470594">The Harvard study</a> focused on diabetes, asthma, and hypertension, which affect more than 25 percent of the U.S. adult population. Overall, centers that participated in the quality improvement interventions showed considerably greater improvement than ones that did not on such measures as the rate of foot exams for diabetics and the use of anti-inflammatory medications for asthma patients.<br><br>Community health centers--a major source of care for minorities and other disadvantaged populations--have grown substantially in number over the past decade, and the federal government plans to expand their numbers even more.<br><br><em>Please visit <a href="/chartcart/chartcart.htm">Chart Cart</a> for access to Commonwealth Fund charts you can save and use in your own research and presentations.</em></p>
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2007/mar/improving-chronic-disease-care-at-community-health-centers