2002 Healthcare and Aging Awards

Sponsored by Pfizer

The Healthcare and Aging Network (HAN) of the American Society on Aging (ASA), in collaboration with Pfizer, is pleased to announce its fourth annual Healthcare and Aging Awards recognizing outstanding programs and services in healthcare and aging. This year's awards were given to organizations that demonstrated high-quality, innovative programs in "Managing Chronic Disease." Four programs were selected for recognition.

Chronic Care Networks for Alzheimer's Disease, Centura Senior Care Services

The Denver site of Chronic Care Networks for Alzheimer's Disease (CCN/AD) has been part of this multi-site initiative since the beginning phases in late 1997. CCN/AD is a cooperative effort of the National Alzheimer's Association and the National Chronic Care Consortium, and involves seven community partnerships that join together a healthcare delivery system and the local Alzheimer's Association. The goals of CCN/AD are to improve healthcare delivery to patients who have dementia and their family caregivers; educate physicians about the recognition and treatment of their patients with dementia, especially in the early stages; integrate the education and support services of the Alzheimer's Association with the Primary Medical Care dementia patients receive; provide a dual track of support for both the patient and caregiver throughout the course of the disease; improve healthcare outcomes of patients with dementia; improve satisfaction with the health plan as a result of these interventions; disseminate information and data from this initiative to replicate these interventions in other settings; and analyze the role of managed care has in improving care to dementia patients.

Implementing strategies to educate a managed care network of Primary Care Physicians (PCP) has been the lynchpin of this initiative in Denver. Providing expertise, consultation, and tools to assist a busy "real world" physician office practice have been some of the successful strategies employed. Enrollment of participants and their family caregivers has also been a method of educating the physician on how to care for a patient with Alzheimer's disease over the course of the illness.

CCN/AD has also employed a strong case management model to provide education and support services to the family caregiver. This model has been implemented quite successfully in Denver, and has been the result of a strong collaboration between the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and CCN/AD case managers from the health system. As a result of this project, PCPs have access to resources to provide care that would not otherwise be available to this population. We have seen doctors be more proactive in diagnosing and treating their patients with dementia because they now have resources to assist them. Data collection will continue through 2002, with data analysis ready for publication in 2003.