Jury is still out on whether Disease Management produces an ROI

According to a new Cornell/Thomson Medstat study that analyzed the economic impact of disease management programs, it's hard to tell whether such programs provide a financial return on investment. In classic researcher fashion, they conclude that more research is needed!Key findings:

• Congestive heart failure programs seem to produce a solid ROI
• Asthma programs may or may not produce an ROI
• Diabetes results are too variable to draw conclusions
• Programs managing multiple diseases appear to produce a strong ROI
• Depression programs do not produce an ROI

My observation is that if you have very sick patients it becomes worthwhile to spend the money providing them with extra attention, otherwise it's too costly.

I think disease management is a good idea, but as I've written before I wouldn't put a lot of money into the industry.