Health Dialog
Health Dialog, headquartered in Boston, MA, is a care management firm and wholly-owned subsidiary of Bupa, a global provider of healthcare services, which serves 24 million individuals. Health Dialog supports Shared Decision-Making® support tools as a best practice in healthcare.
Developed in collaboration with the not-for-profit Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making (FIMDM), Shared Decision-Making tools include educational videos, booklets and online modules, all designed to facilitate joint decision-making between patients and their providers. All too often, individual values and preferences are not taken into account during the treatment planning process but can be critical to the choice of treatment, particularly when no single option is deemed superior by evidence-based medicine. Further, individuals often are not equipped with easy-to-understand, unbiased information about their conditions. The Shared Decision-Making process can thereby play a direct role in reducing unwarranted variation in healthcare – the overuse, underuse or misuse of healthcare services.
Health Dialog’s Shared Decision-Making tools are supplied to individuals in connection with their interactions with Health Dialog Health Coaches, who are registered nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists or dieticians. Health Dialog has conducted two randomized controlled studies that show the direct benefit of Shared Decision-Making tools.
Results
- Over the course of a 1-year period, Health Dialog conducted a series of randomized controlled trials to test the effects of Shared Decision-Making support on individuals facing potential back surgery. The trials demonstrated that individuals supported by video-based and other decision aids, in tandem with high levels of Health Coaching, yielded 12% lower rates of elective surgery when compared to individuals who received either passive support or no support. The supported members had on average $40 per member per month lower costs in the 6 month period post intervention when compared to the control group.
- In another randomized trial, Health Dialog compared individuals with heart failure from a large Medicare Advantage health plan. All individuals received standard education materials about heart failure, but a randomly selected subset received Shared Decision-Making videos as well. Individuals who received the videos were significantly more likely to adopt healthy practices such as frequent weight and fluid balance monitoring.
***Submitted by Carl Graziano,Vice President, Strategic Communications, DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance, CGraziano@dmaa.org
Published: January 26, 2009
