An Evaluation of the Care Planning Process in Coordinated Care Trials: What Difference Do Care Plans Make to Service Provision?

Abstract

Care planning was an integral part of the SA HealthPlus Coordinated Care trial. This paper reports on the usefulness of care planning as a reminder system to GPs and patients in ensuring that chronically ill patients received planned services. Two thousand and seventy one (2071) intervention patients and 1317 control patients were eligible for the study. Data were collected from all sources recording the delivery of medical services, and the percentage of intervention and control patients receiving the service was compared. Two planned services - lipids tests and bowel cancer screening - were used in the analyses. A higher percentage of intervention patients than control patients received the lipid test and the bowel cancer screening test. Care planning has proved a useful means of increasing the delivery of at least two best practice services to a needy group of people with chronic illnesses.