Vt. health reform: manage chronically ill patients

The pilot program begun in 2003 aims to reach patients with chronic conditions, keep them healthier and, ultimately, save money by heading off expensive hospitalizations and procedures. Already, emergency room visits are down.

It's health care at its most basic, but in some ways it's revolutionary. In a system where private insurers and the government reimburse providers for treating sick patients, the physicians who treat the two diabetes patients will get more if they stay healthy.

Almost 85 percent of Vermonters ages 65 and over have one chronic condition — such as diabetes, asthma or cardiovascular disease — and many have more than one. Treating chronic conditions accounts for 78 percent of health care spending in Vermont and 88 percent of all prescriptions. Experts say those figures are similar across the country.

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