For Our Physicians

What Makes Us Different
The Interim HealthCare Living With Heart Failure Program is different than many disease management programs. Most, though certainly not all, disease management programs rely heavily on printed or web-based educational materials and telephonic interventions from nurses in large call centers. These programs have been around for 10-15 years now, and have made an impact. However, their impact is limited by several factors:

• It's not just about education. Most Heart Failure patients have read the brochures and listened to the tapes and CDs. Many are compliant, but some aren't and it's not always because they don't understand.
• Sometimes it's about the home. There are environmental factors unknown to a call center nurse that affect program success. A review of the refrigerator is much more telling than an interview regarding yesterday's meals.
• Sometimes it's about face to face interventions for teaching, monitoring and motivation.
• Sometimes it's about administering care. A home health agency can administer services that are part of a successful program: changing medications, doing injections, etc.
• Sometime there's more than just heart failure. Patients are likely to have co-morbidities, many of which also are chronic diseases. Some newer disease management programs take a broader perspective, but many are disease-specific. They can miss the opportunity to improve the ability of patients to live safely at home with their chronic diseases.