RT Book, Section A1 Kane, Robert L. A1 Ouslander, Joseph G. A1 Resnick, Barbara A1 Malone, Michael L. SR Print(0) ID 1149535932 T1 Chronic Disease Management T2 Essentials of Clinical Geriatrics, 8e YR 2017 FD 2017 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781259860515 LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1149535932 RD 2024/10/08 AB Geriatrics’ forte is chronic disease management (Kane et al, 2005). At a time when medical care in general is awakening to the importance of good chronic disease care, geriatrics has been doing it for years. Many of the principles of geriatrics are basically those of good chronic care. Chronic disease management has two basic components. The first aims at preventing catastrophes (ie, emergency room visits and hospitalizations) by proactively monitoring patients’ conditions and intervening at the first sign of a change in the clinical course. Ideally these interventions prevent some hospitalizations, primarily by providing more effective primary care that prevents the event, but secondarily by managing crises, when they occur, without hospitalization. Figure 4-1, illustrates the paths to chronic disease catastrophe.