C-TAC Launched With Bill Novelli In The Lead. Focus – Advanced Illness.

Posted on | October 19, 2011 | Comments Off on C-TAC Launched With Bill Novelli In The Lead. Focus – Advanced Illness.

As we move ever closer to new approaches to health delivery, who will help Americans prepare for and navigate complex issues related to advanced illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, COPD, diabetes, stroke, and dementia?
This week the newly formed Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC) announced it’s intention to fill this void. Specifically, C-TAC will focus on:

Designing, evaluating, and sharing evidence-based, best-practice care delivery models.

Empowering the public so that patients and families are better able to engage with health care professionals and to ultimately make informed choices for themselves and their loved ones.

Educating health professionals to better serve patients and their loved ones by developing new training models.

Advocating for policies to improve care for those with advanced illness.

C-TAC’s diverse membership includes experts and organizations in all fields that affect advanced care, including national patient and caregiver advocates, leading provider groups and health systems, innovative health plans, hospice and palliative care organizations, home care, long term care, clinicians, faith-based organizations, and academics – united by their commitment to transforming care for Americans living with serious illness.

Bill Novelli, Co-Chair of C-TAC, a professor at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, and former CEO of AARP, states: “People with serious illness and their families face huge problems – emotional, spiritual and physical. They often have to fight their way through a maze of clinical settings and information to receive the care they want, versus what the system provides. Fragmented care is working against them. We need change now.”

Many Americans agree. A recent survey by the National Journal revealed that nearly 90 percent of Americans agree there should be more dialogue and debate about advanced care to better inform the public. The same survey showed that only 24 percent of people say they are very prepared for dealing with advanced care issues. As the number of older Americans, who are disproportionately affected by advanced illness, approaches record levels, the number of people living with advanced illness will increase significantly. In fact, the number of people 65 and older will double within 20 years.

Tom Koutsoumpas, C-TAC Co-Chair and Executive Director of the Mintz Levin Center for Health Law & Policy adds: “Everyone has a personal story about a loved one with advanced illness. The presence of advanced illness in our daily lives will continue to increase as the Baby Boomers age and more Americans need coordinated advanced illness care that is readily available in their communities, regardless of where they reside,” said Tom Koutsoumpas, C-TAC Co-Chair and Executive Director of the Mintz Levin Center for Health Law & Policy. “We are seeing a tremendous group of stakeholders coming together because of the urgency to act on this moral imperative.”

A major concern for Americans, according to the National Journal survey, is the cost of a family member’s serious illness. C-TAC will promote tested models that provide patients and their loved ones the higher-quality care they need, with greater satisfaction, and lower costs. The new models will focus on providing the right care, at the right time, and in the right place. This includes developing new ways of caring for patients out of the hospital and in more comfortable settings that patients tend to prefer, most notably, at home.

“We are seeing real success from programs that focus on the immediate, personal goals of the individual who is seriously ill – and those goals are not always clinical, but about quality of life,” said Brad Stuart, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Northern California-based Sutter Care at Home. “That is what C-TAC is all about – making sure people receive comprehensive, high-quality care that is driven by their own needs and what matters most to them.”

For more information on C-TAC and its’ membership, go to www.advancedcarecoalition.org.

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Disclosure: Mike Magee MD is a member of C-TAC