Women's heart disease self-management program reduces healthcare costs.

2003 AUG 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Julie B. Henderson, MS, senior editor - Data from the "Women Take Pride" program, a study of interventions to manage heart disease led by University of Michigan public health researchers, show that a heart disease self-management program reduces older women's use of hospital services and thus reduces hospital costs.

Jack R. Wheeler, Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, looked at the impact of the heart disease self-management program on hospital service use and hospital cost savings, and he also "[compared] potential cost savings with the cost of delivering the program."

He reported his findings in the journal Medical Care (Can a disease self-management program reduce health care costs? The case of older women with heart disease. Med Care, 2003;41(6):706-15).

The randomized, controlled study used 3 years of data from six hospitals' billing records of 233 women in the Women Take Pride intervention group and 219 in the control group. The women were at least 60 years old, had diagnosed cardiac disease, and were under a physician's care, being seen about every 6 months. Data related to the women's hospital admissions, number of days in hospital, and emergency department visits.

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