The UnitedHealthcare heart failure disease management program is designed to improve quality of life and reduce inpatient days, hospital readmissions and emergency room visits. The program supports members through a dedicated nursing staff, educational materials and medication compliance reinforcement. In addition, the program provides an update to physicians when patients are not complying with medication and faxed alert reports if a patient's health is deteriorating and action is needed.
This program is designed to improve quality of life and reduce inpatient days, hospital readmissions and emergency room visits.
Targeted interventions include, but are not limited to:
Daily biometric monitoring of weight and symptoms
Outreach by heart failure trained nurses
Depression screening
Medication management
Diet and exercise coaching
Faxed physician updates on patient deterioration
Monthly summary reports, including a 30-day review of the patient’s weight and symptoms
The program uses biometric equipment to track a member's weight and symptoms daily. Information is sent automatically through the member's phone line to a team of nurses. Proactive management allows the nurses to address issues before the patient’s health deteriorates to the point of requiring hospitalization. Physicians are informed when weight and/or symptoms fall outside established parameters so action can be taken.
Criteria for member identification:
One or more inpatient admissions for heart failure in past 24 months, identified by predictive modeling.
Daily internal UnitedHealthcare Inpatient Care Management (ICM) referrals from hospitals.
* Programs available according to employer policy (i.e., not all Administrative Services-Only clients purchase disease management services.)
