The National Governors Association (NGA) announced Tuesday that Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Pennsylvania have been selected to participate in the NGA's new learning collaborative on integrating chronic disease prevention services.

According to NGA, chronic disease is a major contributor to rising healthcare costs in the United States, accounting for 84 percent of healthcare spending. To address one of the root causes of rising costs, state public health officials focus on preventive care by promoting physical activity and better nutrition, smoking cessation, screenings for cancer and diabetes and programs to help people control their blood pressure and asthma. 

[See also: Chronic diseases cost the U.S. economy $1.3 trillion.]

Preventive services are primarily funded through the governmental public health system, which has been cut by nearly $400 million over the last three years, the NGA said. While policymakers search for ways to reduce costs in the delivery system, public health dollars that contribute to preventing or mitigating one of the biggest cost drivers in the healthcare system are being cut.

NGA officials said the four selected states will focus on initiatives that develop coordinated community networks of care. Under such networks, providers such as physicians, health departments and hospitals are incentivized to work together to manage the care of an assigned population, with disease prevention as a key component. The four selected states will also focus on fostering sustainable financing mechanisms for community prevention programs through both existing and new reimbursement mechanisms.

“State leaders can use these economically challenging times as an opportunity to develop policies and partnerships that link preventive services with the delivery system,” said NGA Executive Director Dan Crippen. “Effective integration can help reduce the incidence of chronic disease, and do so in a way that is sustainable long-term.”

 [See also: Chronic disease monitoring takes off.]

Through two face-to-face meetings, a series of conference calls and webinars, this learning collaborative provides a formal mechanism for state teams to share and learn innovative practices in a peer-to-peer learning environment. Teams will develop state-specific action plans with support from experts from the private sector, academia, national associations and the federal government, according to Crippen.

NGA said it will produce three case studies by the end of next year that will describe how states in the learning collaborative addressed particular issues related to linking chronic disease prevention services with the healthcare delivery system.

The learning collaborative is supported through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to NGA.

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