Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell hopes to cut back on the amount of money spent on chronically ill patients while increasing the quality of care. In a speech to the Pennsylvania Homecare Association in Harrisburg, PA, Rendell described a new program aimed at doing just that. According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the program--one of the nation's most "comprehensive"--would "educate patients about ways to improve their health, coordinating their care through teams of primary care doctors and other health care professionals, and changing the way insurers reimburse health care providers for treatment." Rendell believes that more than treatments for chronic illnesses costing more than $4 billion could have been avoided last year had the proper steps been taken.
To learn more:
- read the Philadelphia Inquirer's article [1]
Links:
[1] http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/19012519.html