In May 2006, Vermont passed a new coverage expansion called Catamount Health with the goal of assuring insurance coverage for 96 percent of Vermonters. This coverage expansion must align with the State’s Blueprint for Health, Chronic Care Initiative. The Blueprint, managed by the Vermont Department of Health, is a collaborative approach that seeks to improve the health of Vermonters living with chronic diseases and prevent the spread of chronic disease utilizing the Chronic Care Model as the framework for system changes.
The health care debate in Vermont acknowledged the fact that the majority of health care dollars are consumed by individuals with chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes. The legislature and the Governor recognized the potential to control the growth of health care costs and improve the quality of care delivered in the state by making chronic care management a focus of reform efforts. The Blueprint, as a central focus, implements initiatives to manage chronic care. The Blueprint targets patients, providers, communities, and the health system in the following ways:
The best manager of a chronic disease is the patient in collaboration with a physician or other health care profession. The goal is to create an informed, active, and prepared patient interacting with decision support tools.
The proportion of Vermonters with chronic diseases receiving evidence-based medicine will increase. The chronic care model seeks to educate providers, office staff, community partners and other stakeholders to better serve patients and support patients to self-manage their conditions.
- Community Activation and Support
Population wellness programs are based on the need for Vermonters to live in communities that support physical activity and healthy lifestyles. To support this goal, the state will issue grants to communities to develop evidence-based physical activity programs - such as walking programs - and link these with other community and municipal initiatives to improve the built environment, such as linking walking and biking paths to community centers where people live, work, shop and go to school, in an effort to engage residents in community physical activity programs.
- Health Information System
The model proposes the development of a statewide database containing chronic care information and a patient registry for individual and population-based disease management. This will allow providers and patients to better communicate with each other and to support both the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.
The Health Systems workgroup is currently working on several priorities to support system change, including payment for quality as a key requirement for Blueprint sustainability. A virtual presentation is being planned for early fall The state Medicaid agency has also been charged with increasing provider reimbursements for primary care and provider participation in care coordination programs.
