Key Takeaways

  • Every day, millions of people with chronic conditions struggle to manage their symptoms.

  • NCOA remains committed to research and development work on evidence-based self-management and patient engagement.

  • Chronic Disease Self­-Management Program (CDSMP) is a low-cost program that helps adults with chronic diseases learn how to manage and improve their health.

Diabetes, arthritis, hypertension, lung disease, obesity and other chronic diseases can make life difficult to manage for millions of older adults, often forcing them to give up their independence.

The Challenges of Chronic Disease

  • About 85% of older adults have one chronic disease.
  • 60% of older adults have 2 or more chronic conditions
  • Chronic diseases can affect a person’s quality of life and independence as they age. 

The Cost of Chronic Diseases

The traditional medical model of caring for people with chronic diseases—which focuses more on the illness than on the patient—is expensive and often ineffective.

  • Chronic diseases are the leading drivers of increasing the nation’s health care costs to $3.8 trillion each year. 
  • Chronic pain and diabetes are the most expensive chronic conditions with annual spending totaling $635 billion and $327 billion, respectively. 
  • More than two-thirds of all health care costs are for treating chronic diseases.1
  • 95% of health care costs for older Americans can be attributed to chronic diseases.1
  • Less than 1% of health care dollars are spent on prevention to improve overall health.2

NCOA’s Role

Addressing chronic diseases requires new strategies to delay health deterioration, improve function, and address the problems that people confront in their day-to-day lives.

NCOA, the Self-Management Resource Center, and other program developers have collaborated for nearly a decade to disseminate proven programs in-person and online that empower individuals with chronic diseases to manage their own care and improve their quality of life.

Probably the best known and most highly regarded self-management program for people with chronic diseases is the Self-Management Resource Center's Chronic Disease Self­-Management Program (CDSMP).

Through a partnership with the U.S. Administration for Community Living, NCOA promotes CDSMP and its variants through community-based workshops. CDSMP is also supported in communities by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other funders. Since 2006, more than 400,000 people have participated in these impactful programs.

We remain committed to research and development work on evidence-based self-management and patient engagement.

What is the Chronic Disease Self­-Management Program (CDSMP)?

CDSMP is a low-cost program that helps adults with chronic diseases learn how to manage and improve their health. Interactive workshop sessions focus on problems that are common to individuals dealing with any chronic disease. Topics include pain management, nutrition, exercise, medication use, emotions, and communicating with doctors. Workshops are led by two trained facilitators, at least one of whom has a chronic disease. Fifteen hours of content are covered during weekly sessions held over a six-week period. Throughout the program, approximately 10-15 participants focus on building skills to manage their conditions by sharing experiences and providing mutual support.

What Does CDSMP Do?

  • Helps people with diverse medical diagnoses such as diabetes, arthritis, and hypertension develop skills and coping strategies to manage their symptoms.
  • Employs action planning, interactive learning, behavior modeling, problem-solving, decision­ making, and social support for change.
  • Is offered via two venues—online and in-person held in community settings such as senior centers, churches, community health clinics, and libraries.
  • Has disease-specific variants for diabetes, chronic pain, cancer survivors, HIV/AIDS, and arthritis.
  • Is available in Spanish for the chronic disease and diabetes self-management programs, and the Self-Management Resource Center-developed CDSMP trainer manual is available in over 19 different languages.

How effective is CDSMP?

Based on a national study of CDSMP, the program resulted in significant, measurable improvements in the health and quality of life of adults with chronic diseases. CDSMP also appears to save enough through reductions in health care expenditures to pay for itself within the first year.

Health benefits

  • Improved self-reported health.
  • Improved health status in six indicators: fatigue, shortness of breath, depression, pain, stress, and sleep problems.
  • Improved health-related quality of life, unhealthy physical days, and unhealthy mental days.
  • Improved communication with doctors, medication compliance, and health literacy.

Cost savings

  • $714 per person savings in emergency room visits and hospital utilization.
  • $364 per person net savings after considering program costs of $350 per participant.
  • Potential savings of $6.6 billion by reaching 10% of Americans with one or more chronic disease.

For more information

Sources

1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The State of Aging and Health in America 2013. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Dept of Health and Human Services; 2013.

2 The State of Chronic Disease Prevention: Hearing Before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (6) 2011.

This project was supported in part by grant number 90CR2001-01-00 from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official Administration for Community Living policy.