Disease Management

Disease Management as defined by the Disease Management Association of America (DMAA) is "system of coordinated healthcare interventions and communications for populations with conditions in which patient self-care efforts are significant."

Driven by their mission statement "To advocate for efficient, quality healthcare; assist in the continuity of care; and promote an enhanced quality of life", the DMAA defines the goals of disease management as:

• Supports the physician or practitioner/patient relationship and plan of care,
• Emphasizes prevention of exacerbations and complications utilizing evidence-based practice guidelines and patient empowerment strategies, and
• Evaluates clinical, humanistic, and economic outcomes on an ongoing basis with the goal of improving overall health.

Components of Disease Management include:

• Population Identification processes
• Evidence-based practice guidelines
• Collaborative practice models to include physician and support-service providers
• Patient self-management education (may include primary prevention, behavior modification programs and compliance/surveillance)
• Process and outcomes measurement, evaluation and management
• Routine reporting/feedback loop (may include communication with patient, physician, health plan and ancillary providers, and practice profiling)

Full Service Disease Management Programs must include all 6 components. Programs consisting of fewer components are Disease Management Support Services.

Positive Healthcare incorporates all of the above listed components into its HIV/AIDS disease management program. Please click the other tabs in this website for further detail on their HIV/AIDS program.

To learn more about Disease Management, click here to visit the Disease Management Association of America website.