Case Management as another "Community of Wellness" strategy

Add one more thought about the National Capital Medical Center debacle. Today's Post has an article about how New York City is stepping up and managing chronic diabetes care in the article "New York City Starts To Monitor Diabetics." The article mentions privacy issues, but that's not what strikes me about the article.

It reminds me of the case management practices in the health care industry. There are two ways to look at this, as "demand management" or trying to restrict use and access to health care or as "case management," where the case manager is focused on helping the client take better care of their health needs. I am thinking of case management, not demand management.

This is a big issue, because care for many chronic diseases doesn't have to be exorbitantly expensively, but if people don't do the everyday monitoring (and admit it, wouldn't you hate to have to check your blood sugar constantly and take insulin shots, I hate shots myself) there can be really negative results, that not only harm the health of the person, but are costly as well.

Vincent Laforet/The New York Times. Santos Alicea and his daughter, Alicia Rodriguez, have Type 2 diabetes. The disease is ubiquitous in East Harlem, where they live.

In this idea of creating a "community of wellness," perhaps adding a thread of case management for chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes could be considered?

Index Keywords: health-care-planning