Outcomes in the Expanded Chronic Care Model
In the original CCM, improved functional and clinical outcomes ideally result from interactions between the prepared, proactive practice team and the informed, activated patient. In the Expanded CCM, this concept is preserved and enhanced. Improved health of the population results from positive and productive interactions and relationships among community members, healthcare professionals, organizations, individuals and community groups. Outcomes include population health outcomes as well as individual functional and clinical outcomes.
A broader population health perspective requires us to look at not only clinical/functional outcomes but measures for the population as well. For example, when dealing with specific diseases, such as diabetes, these may include rates in the population of the clinical measures (percentage of the population with an HbA1c < 8%). In addition, a population health approach requires us also to assess broader variables, such as poverty rates in a community, and issues of transportation and food security.
Glasgow et al. (1999) suggests that there is a need to re-frame chronic diseases, such as diabetes, from a clinical disease to a public health issue. This important perspective briefly acknowledges issues of equity and an enhanced patient/community quality of life in the context of the broader factors that influence self-management and patient care, but stops short of a full exploration of the implications for outcome measurement. The population health approach requires an explicit examination of the determinants of health. This requires the measurement of distribution of outcome indicators, such as the incidence of diabetes by such variables as income and education.
The incorporation of population health promotion into the CCM also requires practitioners to broaden definitions of outcomes and to determine new ways to measure them. In particular, for short-term and intermediate population health outcomes, projects may wish to track measures, such as the existence of public policies to support health, citizen participation in community decision-making and social cohesion.