Disease Management (health) - The Disease Management Industry

The Disease Management Industry

In the United States, disease management is a large industry with many vendors. Major disease management organizations based on revenues and other criteria include Accordant (a subsidiary of Caremark), Alere (now including ParadigmHealth and Matria Healthcare), Caremark (excluding its Accordant subsidiary), Evercare, Health Dialog, Healthways, LifeMasters (now part of StayWell), LifeSynch (formerly Corphealth), Magellan, McKesson Health Solutions, and MedAssurant.

Disease management is of particular importance to health plans, agencies, trusts, associations and employers that offer health insurance. A 2002 survey found that 99.5% of enrollees of Health Maintenance Organization/Point Of Service (HMO/POS) plans are in plans that cover at least one disease management program. A Mercer Consulting study indicated that the percentage of employer-sponsored health plans offering disease management programs grew to 58% in 2003, up from 41% in 2002.

It was reported that $85 million was spent on disease management in the United States in 1997, and $600 million in 2002. Between 2000 and 2005, the compound annual growth rate of revenues for disease management organizations was 28%. In 2000, the Boston Consulting Group estimated that the U.S. market for outsourced disease management could be $20 billion by 2010; however, in 2008 the Disease Management Purchasing Consortium estimated that disease management organization revenues would be $2.8 billion by 2010. As of 2010, a study using National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data estimated that 21.3% of patients in the U.S. with at least one chronic condition use disease management programs.