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Research

Care Continuum Alliance Research Initiatives

Our Strategic Vision: Research, identify and promote best practices for population health strategies.

The Care Continuum Alliance is the leader in population health quality and research. From its ongoing Outcomes Guidelines Report project to initiatives in accountable care, obesity and other key topics, the Care Continuum Alliance draws broadly on the expertise of its members and external stakeholders to set the standard for industry guides and other resources. Current projects include:

Work Groups & Efforts

Care Continuum AllianceEngagement Incentives

This workgroup will focus its efforts on the current evidence around the use of incentives and the role of behavioral economics. The group will research and review the use of incentives to engage various populations, both initially and long-term. All service delivery models want to better understand how to effectively use extrinsic and intrinsic incentives, and the workgroup will include this in its purview as well.

Dictionary Revision

Four years ago, Care Continuum Alliance released the 2nd edition of the Dictionary of Disease Management Terminology. The Dictionary Workgroup updated these definitions in light of the changing industry landscape and with a focus on population health management as opposed to the traditional disease management approach focus that was the center of efforts to create the 2nd edition. The dictionary revision also includes several new definitions. The 3rd edition is planned to be a searchable database of terms on the Care Continuum Alliance Web site, scheduled for release later this year.

International Task Force

The International Task Force will focus on international efforts among the current Alliance membership through a one-day symposium and global market reports. The International Symposium on Wellness and Chronic Care will take place Sept. 6, co-located with The Forum 11 in San Francisco. Programming will showcase population health programs in countries outside the United States and the innovations and global partnerships that contribute to successful outcomes. The regional global market reports will each highlight one global region and provide detailed analyses of the state of regional health care in the region as well as opportunities for Care Continuum Alliance members.

Medication Adherence

This workgroup will build on the organizationl best practice framework for medication adherence developed last year. Specifically, the group will develop a self-assessment survey for organizations based on the framework model, in addition to case studies that support each of the activities.

PHM Evaluation Strategies

This workgroup will recommend guidelines and strategies for evaluating new service delivery models (e.g., accountable care oganizations, patient-centered medical homes) that use population health management strategies and tools. As these models of care delivery move away from an acute care model toward a total population health model, it will become important for them to measure the impact on health and cost. Using the PHM evaluation work from previous years, the workgroup will propose evaluation considerations as well as recommend a process for developing a program evaluation design.

PHM Integration Strategies

This workgroup will research, identify and demonstrate strategies to embed population health management programs within new service delivery models (e.g., ACOs, PCMHs). Building on the foundation presented by the Care Continuum Alliance ACO toolkit, "Achieving Accountable Care: Essential Population Health Management Tools for ACOs," the workgroup will strive to assist these new models of care delivery with recommendations for impacting the health of the total population. Through detailed case studies, the group will showcase the value that population health can provide as these models strive toward the triple aim of improved health and quality while reducing costs. Transitions of Care

Last year, this workgroup developed a transitions diagram to visually depict the roles of the population health industry in care transitions (e.g., care coordination, HIT). From that work, the group continued with the goal of developing a transitions map, providing clarity and definition to the goal, objectives, strategies, tactics, gaps, deployment strategies, and key HIT components of a specific transition of care (e.g., acute to post-discharge). The workgroup will build on this work and develop case studies demonstrating the care transitions depicted in the transitions diagram.

Behavioral Health

This workgroup will develop a tool kit focused on reviewing the topic of behavioral health and identifying ways to integrate.

Market Trend

Now in its third year, the workgroup will oversee the development of the next Care Continuum Alliance Market Trend report. This will include survey review and refinement, data analysis, and report development.

Partnerships & Collaborations

Data Aggregation

In 2010, Care Continuum Alliance began an initiative to develop a robust, sustainable data repository comprising data contributed by organizations providing programs along the health continuum. This repository would support ongoing research that will help the industry to standardize evaluation methodologies, identify program components that are most effective for specific populations and address emerging questions of interest to population health management stakeholders. Seven Care Continuum Alliance member organizations have agreed to provide claims-plus data for the initial database creation. The data-base partner, Thomson Reuters, is responsible for building and managing the data-base.

Care Continuum Alliance has partnered with RAND Corporation to implement the project's research agenda, with an initial focus on a workplace wellness study funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This study will look at the types and effectiveness of wellness programs offered by employers and insurance providers and will use the Care Continuum Alliance data repository to estimate the real-world impact of the interventions on health-related behavior, control of risk factors, health outcomes, cost and utilization.

Deloitte Engagement Partnership

Care Continuum Alliance has partnered with Deloitte to develop a compendium of best practices, key components and leading thinking on health care consumer engagement. The project will leverage both research and interview with select industry stakeholders as background for a summit to explore opportunities to improve consumer engagement capabilities and research. Findings will include key levers of engagement, summary of existing literature, and proven best practices and promising innovations in engagement.

HERO Collaboration

HERO and Care Continuum Alliance are dedicated to improving the health of the population. HERO focuses its attention on the employee population through its research and education to create and disseminate evidence based research describing "best practices" in employee health management. Care Continuum Alliance has a broad perspective to optimize the health of populations and has specifically outlined strategies for employee populations. HERO and Care Continuum Alliance have agreed to collaborate on a project to identify and recommend measures and standards for the assessment of population health management programs delivered to an employer's workforce. Although the initiative is focused on the employer community, other settings and segments will benefit from the work as well.

This initiative will utilize leadership and volunteers from Care Continuum Alliance's quality and research team and the PHM Measures and Engagement Measures Workgroups, combined with representatives from HERO and its research committee. Collaboration working groups will focus on six identified domains: participation, satisfaction, health impact, financial outcomes, value on investment, and organizational support.

Innovative Collaborative

This joint effort with the Urban Institute seeks to demonstrate collaborative and innovative models of care delivery that have been developed through multiple stakeholder partnerships. Findings will define the core criteria of innovative models, analyze key components, identify commonalities between models, and justify the importance of a multiple stakeholder health delivery model.

Participation in External Efforts

BCBSA Care Management Consistency Subgroup

For 2011, this group will focus on best practices for engagement strategies. Findings will include barriers to engagement, motivational interviewing strategies, and best practices.

NDEP Business Health Strategy Work Group

A joint program of NIH and CDC, the National Diabetes Education Program translates the latest science and disseminates information on diabetes management. This work group focuses specifically on employer solutions for diabetes management.

PCPCC Care Coordination Task Force

The Care Coordination Task Force proposes to develop a paper for the role of care coordination in the context of patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs). The guide will include recommendations from experts in the field, references to peer-reviewed articles and data related to improvements in PCMHs related to improved coordination of care, best practices in care coordination, and tools and resources to assist PCMH practices integrate or improve coordination of care for their patients.

STOP Obesity Alliance

The Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance brings together a diverse and powerful group of consumer, provider, government, labor, business, health insurers and quality-of-care organizations to stop, think and change how we perceive and approach the problem of obesity, overweight, and weight-related health risks, including heart disease and diabetes. Care Continuum Alliance is a Steering Committee Member.

January 23, 2012



Research Publications

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CCA research publications