Multiple health and social needs on WIHI

New Models for Patients with Multiple Health and Social Needs
June 23, 2011, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Eastern Time

Catherine Craig, LMSW, MPA, Director of Health Integration – National Programs, Common Ground

Maria Raven, MD, MPH, MSc, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, NYU School of Medicine

Geraint Lewis, MA, MSc, FRCP, FFPH, Public Health Physician and Senior Fellow, The Nuffield Trust, UK

There isn’t a health care provider anywhere in the US who hasn’t witnessed the disconnect between a patient with multiple health and social needs and the systems available to help that individual. The gap between what’s needed and what’s available (and what’s paid for) is often staggering. Stories abound of doctors and nurses and social workers painstakingly trying to patch together services that might function as an alternative to the hospital’s emergency department, get a prescription filled, get someone a hot meal… and on it goes. There are communities in the US and other countries that have worked for years to do things better but, wherever you go, patients with multiple illnesses combined with a lot of instability in their lives present challenges far beyond the capability and current design of most health care systems.

Nothing like a challenge! WIHI has been tracking some timely work and research that goes by such exotic names as “predictive modeling” and “virtual wards” – or is as basic as care coordination and supportive housing – and key experts leading the way in these areas will be guests on the June 23 WIHI. Catherine Craig, Maria Raven, and Geraint Lewis are all at the sharp end of identifying new ways to work with patients to address underlying needs and manage chronic health problems that lessen dependence on expensive health care services. The good news is that wherever new models are being tried, they’re making a real, tangible difference.

To get ready for the June 23 WIHI, we invite you to read a brand new IHI white paper on innovations in care coordination, co-authored by Catherine Craig. You might also want to read (or reread) Atul Gawande’s article, “The Hot Spotters," from the January 2011 New Yorker. Some of you may recall that Dr. Gawande was on the hunt for solutions. That’s what we’ll be discussing on this next WIHI. Please join us!

To enroll, please click here.