ROCHESTER, Mich., May 2, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Medical Network One, a physicians' services organization and interactive health management service provider offering comprehensive disease management support for individuals living with chronic conditions, announces an innovative chronic disease management program. The program employs a new concept called Chronic Care Travel Teams to provide a range of support services to patients in their primary care physician's office rather than an offsite medical facility or hospital.
The Chronic Care Travel Team (CCTT) is comprised of registered nurses, lifestyle coaches, mental health specialists, certified diabetes educators, registered dietitians, and exercise physiologists. Services include education in self-management practices, group visits involving CCTT members, patients and the primary care physician, and proactive phone calls by the CCTT to patients. According to Al Juocys, D.O., Chief Medical Officer of Medical Network One, the program has a targeted patient base.
"Our program focuses on six chronic conditions: asthma, chronic depression, chronic heart disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes and lower back pain, and stems from the recognition that, in the presence of a chronic disease where cure is rare, the goal is management over time to maximize the patient's comfort, independence and quality of life," asserts Dr. Juocys.
The CCTT concept is based on research performed by Edward Wagner, M.D. at the McColl Institute in Puget Sound, Washington and Kate Lorig, Ph.D. and colleagues at Stanford University, and shows that self-management, group visits and integration of the telephone into the care program work to diminish symptoms, enhance activity and increase independence for patients with chronic disease.
Dr. Juocys says patients who have one of the specified chronic illnesses and are treated by Medical Network One primary care physicians began receiving information about CCTT offerings in May 2006. Currently, 121 Medical Network One physicians are offering or receiving training to offer the CCTT program to patients.
Medical Network One's program encourages patients and caregivers to become more proactive in communicating with each other. For example, physicians or their assistants frequently call patients to discuss treatment plans and care issues before a scheduled appointment, in some cases eliminating the need for that particular office visit. Further, group visits are giving patients with similar illnesses an opportunity to set agendas for talking with their physicians and each other to learn more about effective ways to cope.
"Studies show that patients learn most about coping with long-term illness and getting on with their lives from fellow patients. We give our patients an opportunity to meet with their peers in safe, educationally relevant surroundings while we help ourselves as physicians improve our medical practices," continues Dr. Juocys, who also runs a family practice in Rochester, Michigan and was named the 2006 Family Physician of the Year by the Michigan Association of Osteopathic Family Physicians.
Medical Network One senior physicians playing a leadership role in the CCTT include Andrew Athens, D.O. of the Athens Clinic in Southgate; David Everingham, D.O. and Craig Everingham, D.O. of the Everingham Clinic in Romulus; Shailajla Rastogi, M.D. of the Country Creek Family Physician Group in Oakland Township; and, Herbert Smitherman, M.D., chairman of the Community Medicine Department at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Dr. Juocys adds that the Chronic Care Travel Team program offers chronic disease management services in a cost-effective manner and lays the foundation for the creation of a "Patient-Centered Advanced Medical Home." A Patient-Centered Advanced Medical Home is a health care setting that facilitates partnerships between individual patients, their personal physicians and, when appropriate, the patient's family.
The cost of implementing and administering the new program at Medical Network One, including training, education, evaluation and development of materials, is estimated at $950,000 over three years and is financed through funds received from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan's Partnering for Value Program. A net reduction of 5.6%-6% in total health care costs is anticipated. On average, chronically ill patients fill 49 prescriptions per year, have 37 physician office visits annually, visit 14 unique providers each year, and stay seven days in the hospital annually.
Founded in 1981, Medical Network One and its chronic disease management division, The Michigan Institute for Health Enhancement, design, develop and deliver high-quality, cost-effective, chronic disease management programs in conjunction with physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, employers and corporate health partners. Additionally, Medical Network One offers administrative support services to physicians throughout Michigan and Ohio. Learn more at www.mednetone.com or www.miteam.org.
The Medical Network One logo is available at http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3672