Predictive modeling system and method for disease management

1. A method of disease management embodied in a computer program product for execution on an instruction processing system, comprising a tangible storage medium readable by the instruction processing system and storing instructions for execution by the instruction processing system for performing the method comprising:

filtering claims data of program participants to define a population;

conducting a multi-condition risk assessment of substantially all participants within the defined population;

combining data gathered from said multi-condition risk assessment with claims data for participants within the defined population;

classifying future healthcare risk of participants based on the combination of claims data and data gathered from said multi-condition risk assessment; and

determining an appropriate level of disease management intervention and support for program participants based on the future healthcare risk classification that ranges from patient education for lower risk individuals, passive monitoring and reporting of progress and program compliance for middle risk individuals, to more active intervention and close one-on-one case management for higher risk individuals.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising directing a plan of care based on the classification of future healthcare risk.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of conducting a multi-condition risk assessment comprises gathering data regarding one or more medical conditions of the program participant.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the data regarding one or more medical conditions of the program participant are selected from blood pressure, hypertension, cholesterol levels, diabetes, elevated blood-glucose levels, swelling or inflammation, chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, depression, cancer, low back pain, cardiac disease, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, respiratory disease, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of conducting a multi-condition risk assessment comprises gathering data regarding one or more medical treatments of the program participant.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the data regarding one or more medical treatments of the program participant are selected from prescription or non-prescription drugs taken, insulin therapy, oxygen therapy, compliance with prescribed treatment regimens, and combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a multi-condition risk assessment is conducted for every member of the defined population of program participants.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multi-condition risk assessment is a preliminary multi-condition risk assessment conducted upon entry of the participant into a disease management program.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multi-condition risk assessment is conducted upon occurrence of a specified event.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multi-condition risk assessment is conducted via an Internet-based online question-and-answer session.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of filtering claims data of program participants comprises identification of at least one potential indicator of increased risk of future uncommon medical expense.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the combination of data from the multi-condition risk assessment and claims data is applied to a statistical model to stratify risk and classify individual participants within the defined population into one of two or more risk classifications.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the defined population further comprises self-referred and/or physician-referred program participants having indications of one or more identified conditions or risks.

14. A method of disease management embodied in a computer program product for execution on an instruction processing system, comprising a tangible storage medium readable by the instruction processing system and storing instructions for execution by the instruction processing system for performing the method comprising:

conducting a multi-condition risk assessment of at least a substantial portion of program participants within a defined population;

generating a patient record based on the multi-condition risk assessment; and

providing differing degrees of healthcare intervention for program participants based on their patient record, wherein the degrees range from patient education for lower risk individuals, passive monitoring and reporting of progress and program compliance for middle risk individuals, to more active intervention and close one-on-one case management for higher risk individuals.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising collecting retrospective claims data for program participants, and combining said retrospective claims data into the patient records.

16. A method of optimizing delivery of healthcare services to participants in a disease management program, embodied in a computer program product for execution on an instruction processing system, comprising a tangible storage medium readable by the instruction processing system and storing instructions for execution by the instruction processing system for performing said method comprising:

conducting a multi-condition risk assessment of at least a substantial portion of a population;

categorizing individual program participants selected from the population into at least a higher-risk category and a lower-risk category; and

providing more intensive healthcare intervention to program participants categorized in the higher-risk category and less intensive healthcare intervention to program participants categorized in the lower-risk category, wherein the program participants categorized in the lower-risk category receive patient education and close one-on-one case management for higher-risk category.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising collecting claims data for program participants, and wherein the step of categorizing individual program participants selected from the population into at least a higher-risk category and a lower-risk category comprises combining said claims data with data collected by the multi-condition risk assessment.