Summary
Over the past few years, there has been significant speculation about the definition, purpose and value of disease management. The existence of pre-paid health plans in the US has led to experiments with different methods for more cost-effective treatment and management of chronic illness. Various disease management programmes are beginning to show results that indicate that there are multiple components involved. Successful programmes have focused on clearly defined targets for change in a few key areas, rather than attempting to account for all variables in the early stages of development. Disease management is emerging as a practical tool that applies systems and processes within and among components of care to enable measurement, management and change. This provides a mechanism for managing the complexities of long term treatment associated with chronic illness.
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Gretchen Pilkington is a Health Care Development Manager for the 3M (NZ) Ltd in Auckland, New Zealand. Mrs Pilkington has experience in working with comprehensive healthcare organisations in the US managed care environment. She specialises in developing quality management programmes for use in integrated delivery system design. She has previously been involved in developing measures of quality and process/quality improvement through health outcomes research, and in the planning and implementation of comprehensive clinical information systems.
Mr Gregory A. Pilkington is a Senior Manager specialising in health management with Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group. Mr Pilkington maintains extensive international experience in the development and management of complex healthcare organisations. Mr Pilkington has direct experience in all business facets of care management from both a provider and a managed care standpoint. Most recently, Mr Pilkington has been involved in the development of managed integrated delivery systems.
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Pilkington, G., Pilkington, G. Disease Management Theory versus Practice. Dis Manage Health Outcomes 1, 121–128 (1997). https://doi.org/10.2165/00115677-199701030-00001
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/00115677-199701030-00001