Model of Chronic Care Enabled with Information Technology

Abstract

The increase in prevalence of chronic disorders in modern societies has resulted in increasing organizational and financial pressure on healthcare systems. The challenge of adequate care delivered to patients with chronic conditions, who want to remain in their social context, promotes the search for effective models of care. Adequate use of information and communication technology may be an appropriate response to this challenge. Chronic patients require repetitive interactions with the healthcare system. High-quality care adhering to evidence-based medicine strategies must be delivered to a vast population of patients in a continuous manner. The experience from studies and pilot implementations of information technology tools in specific groups of patients suffering from chronic diseases indicates that considerable benefits may be gained related to improved cost-effectiveness and simultaneously maintained quality of care. It seems that e-health strategies may help to fulfill two contradictory requirements — provision of high-quality medical services and preservation of the cost-effective approach. Available evidence supports the use of e-health solutions for care delivery. The results of trials based on the use of integrated IT-enhanced model of care with focus on patient empowerment and better interdisciplinary team communication demonstrated improvement of such outcome measures like hospitalization rate, frequency of ambulatory visits and level of quality of life in populations of chronic patients. However, it must be emphasized that a new model of care based on the effective use of e-health solutions cannot be implemented without adherence to legal, ethical and psychosociological requirements existing in the healthcare environment.