New learning collaborative for healthcare organizations

HealthSciences Institute will sponsor a new learning collaborative for health care professionals, teams and organizations who serve individuals at risk of, or affected by, chronic diseases in employer, health plan, medical home and other provider settings.

The collaborative will offer free, noncommercial webinars on topics, solutions and case studies in chronic disease prevention, management and care improvement. Each webinar will include a brief presentation, ask-the-expert segment, and targeted discussion on the application of new learning to participant job roles. Discussion will continue online between sessions.

The collaborative is a component of a new HealthSciences Institute-sponsored Partners in Improvement initiative that will offer free online chronic care improvement resources and tools to health care organizations and professionals.

"Nurses and other professionals who serve at-risk individuals--in settings from health plans to medical homes-- want affordable, noncommercial learning activities that prepare them for the real-world challenges of chronic care. They also understand that some of the most valuable lessons are learned through collaboration and problem-solving with peers," cites Blake Andersen, PhD, President and CEO of HealthSciences Institute.

Learning Collaborative Event Schedule

1/8/2010 Benchmarking Population Health Programming and Disease Management Expertise with Tina Ross-Knapp, BS, RN, CCP, Manager, Population Health Management, Capital Blue Cross. 2/5/2010 Applying Patient Activation with Judith Hibbard, Ph.D., Professor, Oregon Health & Science University. 3/5/2010 A Collaborative Primary Care CVD & Diabetes Program at Kaiser Permanente with Teri Laurenti, PharmD, CCP and Gail Richardson, NP, CCM, CCP. 6/4/2010 Community-Based Strategies for Primary Prevention of Diabetes with David Marrero, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, Indiana School of Medicine. 8/6/2010 Minimally Disruptive Medicine with Victor Montori, MD, Endrincrinologist and Professor of Medicine, College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic.

All events held 10:30 to 11:30 (CT); CCP Community Calls 11:30 to Noon (CT).

The learning collaborative--which builds on content from HSI's Chronic Care Professional (CCP) learning and certification program--will be followed by a half-hour CCP community call.

According to Dr. Andersen, "Chronic conditions account for over 75% of health care costs. Lifestyle issues such as obesity are responsible for a dramatic increase in diabetes and other costly chronic conditions. Evidence-based health coaching and chronic care management are critical for improving health and reducing the demand for avoidable and costly health care expenses."

Register for the January 8th session Benchmarking Population Health Programming and Disease Management Expertise.