Local Experts Available to Discuss Chronic Illness Care in Minneapolis/St. Paul

Local Experts Available to Discuss Chronic Illness Care in Minneapolis/St. Paul

National PBS Series Focuses on Need to Remake and Rethink Care for Chronically Ill in America

ST. PAUL, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ --
What: On October 19, a nationally televised PBS program "Remaking
American Medicine," will focus on how poorly the U.S. health care
system handles chronic illness. Stealth Epidemic, the third
installment in the series, draws attention to two experimental
efforts in California and Washington State that suggest better
approaches to deliver quality care to chronically ill patients.

Who: Jim Chase, Executive Director of Minnesota Community Measurement,
a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation "Aligning Forces for Quality"
community program.

Why: Locally, how is Minneapolis/St. Paul handling this silent epidemic
and the care of other chronic illnesses within our community?
Local experts actively involved in improving Minneapolis/St. Paul
health care offer insight on the progress toward better quality
care directly affecting people in our area.

When: Available immediately -- to set up an interview please see contact
information below.

Background: The care of people with chronic illness accounts for more than 75 percent of all U.S. health care costs. More than 90 million Americans live with chronic illness such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease; seven out of ten U.S. deaths are caused by chronic illness.

MN Community Measurement is part of the Aligning Forces for Quality: The Regional Market Project initiative, a multi-million dollar national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation designed to help communities dramatically improve the quality of the health care they provide for chronic diseases in ambulatory settings. Minneapolis/St. Paul is one of the Foundation's Aligning Forces for Quality communities aligning three key drivers of quality improvement:

1. Provide the public information on the performance of physician groups
and other health care organizations;
2. Capacity to help physicians improve the quality of ambulatory, chronic
illness care; and
3. Helping consumers use information on quality to make choices about
their care.

If you would like a local expert's perspective and an update on what MN Community Measurement is doing to address key health care issues in Minnesota, please contact:

Jim Chase, Executive Director, Minnesota Community Measurement
Phone: 651-209-0890
E-mail: chase@mnhealthcare.org

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Minnesota Community Measurement

CONTACT: Jim Chase, Executive Director, Minnesota Community Measurement,
+1-651-209-0890, chase@mnhealthcare.org

Web site: http://www.mnhealthcare.org/

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