(NCQA: Washington) -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance, in collaboration with Pfizer Inc., recently released a new publication profiling strategies and recommendations for improving the quality of care through wellness and prevention initiatives.
Quality Profiles: The Leadership Series—Focus on Wellness and Prevention offers comprehensive, forward-thinking commentary on the need to advance a wellness and prevention agenda, while promoting evidence-based disease management.
“Helping people acquire the self-management skills they need to protect and improve their health and well-being is every bit as important as providing quality health care after a diagnosis,” says NCQA president Margaret E. O’Kane. “This edition of Quality Profiles showcases proven, leading-edge approaches that plans and employers are using to integrate wellness and prevention into their health care improvement efforts.”
Wellness and prevention programs targeting cardiovascular disease, tobacco use, and obesity have the potential to improve quality of life and productivity and reduce the human and financial burdens of preventable disease. These areas of focus are consistent with the goals of Healthy People 2010, a national effort to identify and address the most significant preventable threats to health in this country.
NCQA and Pfizer developed the fifth edition of The Leadership Series to provide direction and support to health plans, employers, and health care professionals as they promote healthier behaviors to advance quality of life and improve clinical outcomes.
“Many diseases may be avoided or delayed through wellness and prevention efforts,” says Pfizer senior vice president and chief medical officer, Joseph M. Feczko, M.D. “Our goal is to share practical examples of successful approaches that can serve as models of wellness and prevention interventions.”
This addition to the Quality Profiles series includes innovative case studies that support preventive health care, such as:
- The value of collaboration between a health plan and an employer in establishing a culture of wellness
- How to help members quit smoking for life
- How to impact employee health through worksite environmental and policy change
- The advantages of risk stratification for more appropriately designed interventions to help control high blood pressure
- Strategies to help empower employees to make healthy decisions
To obtain a copy of Quality Profiles: The Leadership Series—Focus on Wellness and Prevention, or a previous edition—Focus on Cardiovascular Disease, Focus on Depression, Focus on Diabetes, or Focus on Enhancing Care for Older Adults, contact 1-888-412-3090 or visit www.qualityprofiles.org.
Organizations contributing to Focus on Wellness and Prevention
Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield—North Haven, Connecticut; Blue Cross of California—Camarillo, California; Cigna HealthCare—Chesterfield, Virginia ; Foundation for Healthy Communities—Concord, New Hampshire; Health Net of California—Pasadena, California; Health Net of California—Rancho Cordova, California; Health Plan of New York—HIP—New York, New York; HealthAmerica—Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Highmark Preventive Health Services—Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; JEA Safety & Health Services—Jacksonville, Florida; MVP Health Care—Schenectady, New York ; North Carolina State Health Plan—Raleigh, North Carolina ; Scott & White Health Plan—Temple, Texas ; USAA—San Antonio, Texas
For more information, visit http://web.ncqa.org/tabid/512/Default.aspx.
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