Primary Care Management/Action Plans for Advanced Chronic Diseases

Patients living with advanced chronic diseases (ACD), such as congestive heart failure (CHF) and chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) present substantial care and economic challenges for the health care system due to frequent emergency room visits and acute care hospitalizations. Morbidity and mortality is high in these complex populations, and patient quality of life is often compromised. Care of patients with ACD occurs across health care sectors, by providers in the acute, primary and community settings. Despite recent efforts to enhance the care of patients with ACD, through multidisciplinary disease management programs, variations and gaps exist along the continuum of care. The available evidence suggests that there are opportunities to optimize the primary care of patients with ACD. We are proposing to build upon the current evidence and guidelines for disease management programs, our existing specialized resources, our existing primary care practices, and develop and test a model of care that is primary care based, sensitive to the unique demands and characteristics of different primary practices. Our goal is to design linkages and care strategies of relevance and importance to the primary care providers who care for patients with advanced COPD and CHF. This demonstration project is a randomized controlled clinical trial of the RoadMAP program (intervention) delivered by a Primary Care Nurse Specialist (PCNS) compared to usual care (control group). The primary outcomes will be degree of adherence to clinical practice guidelines. Secondary outcomes will be patient satisfaction, quality of life, use of community-based services, number of emergency room visits, and number of hospitalizations.