The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #38386

Mark Lyons, MPH, PA-C, Performance Improvement and Program Development, Delaware Valley Community Health, Inc., 1412 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19126, (215)291-2511, mlyons@dvch.org, Kevin D. Frick, PhD, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University, 624 N. Broadway, Rm. 606, Baltimore, MD 21205, and Andrew T. Levinson, MPH, School of Medicine, MCP Hahnemann University, Box 109, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19129.

Community-based health organizations have developed successful system-wide approaches to improve the quality of care provided to poor and minority communities that have a high prevalence of chronic diseases. For cardiovascular disease in particular, significant steps have been taken to eliminate health care disparities, with demonstrated improvements in glycemic control, cholesterol levels and blood pressure. Utilizing recent findings from major longitudinal studies, these improvements in intermediate health outcomes in underserved minority populations can be translated into decreased risk for specific clinical outcomes and cost-savings.

Delaware Valley Community Health, a federally qualified community health center in Philadelphia, developed IMPACT, a computerized tool that translates improvement in HbA1C, total cholesterol and systolic blood pressure into decreased risk for ten clinical outcomes: mortality, disease- related mortality, myocardial infarction, coronary mortality, stroke, stroke mortality, amputations, renal failure, cataract extraction and micro-vascular disease. The program also translates improvement in HbA1C into decreased healthcare costs over a three-year period. Graphs are produced, the formulas for the calculations and their limitations are discussed, and the studies from which they are derived are cited. At present, the Excel-based evaluation tool has been distributed to over three-hundred-fifty community-based organizations. Using organizational cost data this interface can also project the net savings associated with the expenditures to improve Hemoglobin A1C outcomes.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participants will be able to

• Describe a model for measuring quality of care improvements for populations with a high prevalence of chronic diseases.
• Describe a process for translating improvements in intermediate outcomes into decreased risk for morbidity and mortality and decreased health care costs.
• Use a spreadsheet-based interface to translate intermediate outcomes into decreased risk and cost savings for a specific community-based intervention.

Keywords: Chronic Diseases, Evaluation

Related Web page: www.ctpca.org/ne-collab-main.htm

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Delaware Valley Community Health, Inc., Philadelphia, PA
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.