Description: This paper provides an outline of three potential initiatives that may be undertaken by the government and the private sector. The first initiative aims at reducing the cost of health care at the provider level. The second initiative provides a means to improve the quality of health care. The third initiative creates a constructive basis for identifying medical best practices to enhance quality.

Description: Separating incident and prevalent populations is useful, but the use of a cohort to make an RTM adjustment is unwarranted in the population-based pre- versus post-period design. From Financing Chronic Care Monograph, M-HB05-1.

Description: Most health care delivered in the United States is based on the acute care model: it is episodic has a beginning, middle and end usually the patient recovers and interventions are designed to target a specific pathophysiologic abnormality. Chronic disease care, in contrast, often has no clear beginning and no end the focus is on managing over the long term with prevention of progression and complications. Further, many chronic diseases “travel together” comorbidities: for example, diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease CAD, heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease and renal dysfunction are often found together.

Description: An essay suggesting one solution in theory would be to create a system similar to Medicare Advantage for the entire American population.

Description: Essay states a competing American ideals for the U.S. Health care system include free markets which foster competition, cost effectiveness and quality health care vs.public and private assistance which provides health care independent of a person’s financial means.

Description: This is the abstract for the paper, The Need for Coordinated Care for Depression, and the Need for Creative Innovation by Stephen P. Melek, FSA.

Description: This is the abstract to the paper, A Comparative Analysis of Chronic and Non-Chronic Insured Commercial Member Cost Trends.

Description: This is the abstract for the paper, The Cost and Benefits of Treating Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus as a Chronic Condition by Robert D. Lieberthal.

Description: Disease management DM is increasingly encountered in health plans and employer groups as a health care intervention targeted to individuals with chronic diseases chronics. The untested assumption is that without DM, the chronic and non-chronic trends are identical. From Financing Chronic Care Monograph, M-HB05-1.

Description: A call for essays issued by the SOA Health and Long Term Care Sections on the visions for the future of the U.S. health care system.