National Jewish Provides Full COPD Disease-Management Program to Providence Health Plan

National Jewish Medical and Research Center has agreed to provide a complete disease-management program for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to Providence Health Plans, which serves patients in Oregon and Washington. The agreement represents the first time that National Jewish has offered such a complete disease-management package to any customer.

"By offering a product that combines both our clinical expertise in COPD and our operational expertise in disease management, we are supplying Providence Health Plans with all the tools it needs to develop an effective system for managing patients with COPD," said David Tinkelman, MD, Vice President for Health Initiatives at National Jewish.

Before this agreement, National Jewish had contracted with health plans, employers and others to handle the COPD disease management services itself. In other agreements, National Jewish has provided combined its disease management expertise with others' clinical expertise.

In the agreement with Providence Health Plans, National Jewish agreed to provide COPD clinical protocols that can be incorporated into existing operations at Providence, including content for program-entry questionnaires, proactive calls and reactive calls. National Jewish will also train case managers how to educate patients on important aspects of monitoring and managing their disease, and provide educational brochures, including Understanding Emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis, Managing Your Medication Supply, and Time and Energy Management: Pacing Yourself. Providence will also receive support for Quality Improvement and Outcomes Measurement programs.

"When we were looking for a vendor to help us set up a disease management program for COPD, we knew that National Jewish was the place to go, an institution our participating physicians knew and trusted," said Thomas Cotter, Providence project manager. "The National Jewish team has been very flexible in helping us assemble and customize a very effective package of protocols, best practices, and policies and procedures. We feel like the program lets us 'stand on the shoulders of giants.'"

U.S. News & World Report has named National Jewish the top respiratory hospital in the nation for five years running. National Jewish has been providing COPD disease management services since 1998 and currently has more than 2,000 enrolled participants.