Home-Based Management of Chronic Diseases: The Power of Public–Private Partnerships
Lesly Deuchar, MN, Innovation Manager, Edmonton Zone Virtual Hospital, Alberta Health Services, Edmonton
Farid Foroud, MBT, Director, Health & Life Sciences, Western Canada, Global Public Affairs, Edmonton
Jacqueline Andersen, BA, Director of Strategic Partnerships, University of Alberta Hospital Foundation, Edmonton
Lana Solberg, BSW, Healthcare Solutions & Partnerships, Boehringer Ingelheim, Edmonton
Michael K. Stickland, PhD, Professor, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta; Director, G.F. MacDonald Centre for Lung Health, Covenant Health; Scientific Director, Respiratory Section, Medicine Strategic Clinical Network, Alberta Health Services, Edmonton
ABSTRACT
Alberta’s Institute of Health Economics estimates that the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) costs the provincial government CAD$254 million per year. To address the unmet needs of patients and reduce the financial burden of COPD in Alberta and throughout Canada, two novel collaborations have been implemented in recent years: the INSPIRED Collaborative and the Alberta Boehringer Ingelheim Collaboration (ABIC) Fund. A total of 794 patients with COPD from 19 sites across 10 Canadian provinces were included in the INSPIRED Collaborative, a hospital-to-home model of care supported by the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, providing home visits and telephone support for patients with COPD following hospital discharge. In Alberta, the INSPIRED program resulted in a decrease in emergency department utilization, acute care admissions, and length of hospital stay for individuals 6 months post- versus pre-enrolment, and findings from caregiver surveys showed good satisfaction with the model. In 2019, following the success of INSPIRED, the public–private philanthropic ABIC Fund was established to facilitate patient-centred health innovations, with a focus on respiratory disorders. The 2020 ABIC Fund recipients were Dr. Michael Stickland, for the project ‘Breathe Easy Pulmonary Rehabilitation: Scale, Spread and Sustain’, which aims to address challenges in access to pulmonary rehabilitation, and Dr. Heather Sharpe, for the project ‘Identifying early COPD using health administrative data’, which aims to identify trends in healthcare use by individuals newly diagnosed with COPD. Further opportunities for applicants will be generated in Pillar 2 (in progress) and Pillar 3 (fall 2021).
SUBMITTED: July 22, 2021 | PUBLISHED: August 23, 2021
DISCLOSURES: Medical writing assistance, provided by Olive Denneny of MediTech Media, was funded by Boehringer Ingelheim. Lesly Deuchar, Farid Foroud, Jacqueline Andersen and Michael K. Stickland have nothing to disclose. Lana Solberg is an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim.
CITATION: Deuchar, L et al (2021). Home-Based Management of Chronic Diseases: The Power of Public–Private Partnerships. Canadian Health Policy, August 2021. ISSN 2562-9492 www.canadianhealthpolicy.com
