Serious Illness Program Design & Implementation Framework

The American health care system’s approach to the treatment of serious chronic illness is fragmented, and this exacts a heavy toll on some of its sickest and most vulnerable patients and their families. Wide regional variations in quality, utilization, and cost of care for patients with serious chronic diseases have been reported for decades. The challenge is amplified by the aging of the US population and the diversity of those living with serious illness, creating a tremendous burden on our health care system at large.

C-TAC has collaborated with Healthsperien, the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, to incrementally develop a flexible Serious Illness Program Design and Implementation Framework (SIP Framework) consisting of the foundational elements of program design that contribute to program success.

The SIP Framework is designed to:

• Incorporate expert stakeholder feedback (convening sessions 1 and 2)
• Inform program development, replication, and scaling
• Integrate with care model payment design
• Inform care model and payment simulator development
• Inform other aspects of design and development such as policy, standardized measurements, and regulatory analysis