Health care reform opens new doors for wellness, prevention and care management programs

The Care Continuum Alliance aligns all stakeholders providing services along the care continuum toward the goal of health improvement and represents more than 200 corporate and individual stakeholders--including wellness, disease and care management organizations, pharmaceutical manufacturers and benefits managers, health information technology innovators, biotechnology innovators, employers, physicians, nurses and other health care professionals, and researchers and academics.

At The Forum 11, you'll meet the nation's top wellness and care management professionals and learn their strategies and best practices for adapting to a reformed health care system. Visit the Care Continuum Alliance online at www.carecontinuum.org.

WHAT IS THE CARE CONTINUUM?

The care continuum represents comprehensive, coordinated and integrated health services that improve the quality and value of care across all states of health and care settings. Care continuum services include health and wellness promotion, chronic condition management, intensive case management and solutions for collaborative care, technology and wellness.

WHY DID WE CHANGE OUR NAME?

With its new name, the Care Continuum Alliance represents all stakeholders in health management and the rapidly changing landscape under health care reform. Established in 1999 as the Disease Management Association of America, the association, like the industry it represents, has evolved to include all segments of the care continuum, including wellness and workplace health promotion, prevention, behavioral health, chronic care management, technology-enabled care, complex care management and end-of-life care.

WHAT DO CARE CONTINUUM ALLIANCE MEMBERS DO?

Care Continuum Alliance members design, develop and implement programs to improve the health of populations--a manufacturer's work force, for example. They do this across the continuum of care, assessing health risks among the population to stratify individuals for appropriate interventions. This process might find that many members of the population have little or no health risk and can maintain good health through a wellness program. Others might fall into a moderate risk category and require health coaching or other risk management interventions. Still others might be at high risk or chronically ill and in need of disease or case management support.

Intervention techniques are as varied as the populations served and generally are delivered by licensed health care professionals. Often, they include technological innovations, such as Web-based health coaching, remote biometric monitoring and mobile device support. Interventions can be disease-specific--focusing on diabetes, for example--or can coordinate care for multiple conditions. But services often are for people with no existing conditions and are designed to ensure their continued good health through lifestyle education and support; this is the ideal and the goal of population health improvement.

SHOULD YOU EXHIBIT AT OR SPONSOR THE FORUM 11?

Our conference and exhibit hall showcase best practices in:

• General health & prevention
• Chronic condition management
• Intensive case management
• Collaborative care solutions
• Technology innovations
• Wellness strategies

Don't miss this opportunity to demonstrate your products and services to: health plans, employers, providers, federal and state governments, hospital and health systems, and health management companies. For information on becoming a sponsor or exhibitor, contact Cindy DeClark, at (202) 737-5681 or cdeclark@carecontinuum.org.