I had the good fortune of attending the very first meeting of the Disease Management Association of America back in the day. The industry was in its infancy, full of enthusiasm with visions of changing healthcare for the better. These were the days of mom and pop disease management companies–way before the consolidation left us with a few, very large market leaders, such as LifeMasters, Healthways, Health Dialog, Alere and a few others. And then came the CMS disease management pilots (AKA Medicare Health Support).
I had the good fortune of attending the very first meeting of the Disease Management Association of America back in the day. The industry was in its infancy, full of enthusiasm with visions of changing healthcare for the better. These were the days of mom and pop disease management companies–way before the consolidation left us with a few, very large market leaders, such as LifeMasters, Healthways, Health Dialog, Alere and a few others. And then came the CMS disease management pilots (AKA Medicare Health Support).
As the pilots failed to reap the hoped for savings, DM customers lost faith and the industry tanked. Healthways alone lost $389 million in market capitalization after the announcement of the MHS results.
DMAA, its partner companies in disarray, decided to rebrand as the Care Continuum Alliance. Although probably a reasonable move as “disease management” became a bit of a pariah in the managed health care world, CCA did not thrive. A recent change in leadership resulted in the appointment of an Acting Executive Director, Fred Goldstein, a successful disease management company CEO who sold his company, Specialty Disease Management Services to US Preventive Health in 2007. Fred is now the Founder and President of Accountable Health, LLC. and more relevant to this post, the Acting Executive Director of the Care Continuum Alliance, now rebranded as the Population Health Alliance.
I had a chance to catch up with Fred at #HiMSS14 in Orlando recently. Listen as Fred explains what the CCA, (formerly the DMAA) and now the PHA is up to:
First published on The Doctor Weighs In.