Friday, 27 April 2007
Fighting Diabetes With Prescription For Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has a plan to help thousands of diabetics live healthier.
Rendell is calling his proposal the Prescription for Pennsylvania. The program will include regional cooperatives with team-based care and specialized providers, along with trained health coaches. His plan will also push for more efficient methods of information sharing among doctors and specialists, and will try to restructure the reimbursement system to help fund chronic-care programs.
“The beauty of the cost-savings initiatives in ‘Prescription for Pennsylvania’ is that they will save money and at the same time improve the quality and the caliber of the health care every Pennsylvanian gets,” said Governor Rendell.
Each year tens of thousands of patients are hospitalized for diabetes-related complications in Pennsylvania, adding up to almost $2 billion in healthcare costs. The Prescription plan will help diabetics take important preventive measures that will help keep them out of the hospital.
“What is beginning to happen in Pennsylvania is very important nationally,” said Ed Wagner, director of the MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation in Seattle.“ [It’s] an exciting opportunity
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