SCAN Health Plan Launches New Web-Based Initiative Aimed at Enhancing Care for Seniors

LONG BEACH, Calif., June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- SCAN Health Plan announced today the launching of a new online educational initiative dedicated to improving education and patient care in the field of geriatrics. Through Web-based training and access to expert instructors, the new website – www.scancme.com – offers learning modules focused on educating physicians and other healthcare professionals in the management of chronic disease and common geriatric conditions.

"This new continuing medical education program will provide high-quality, evidence-based activities that will narrow the practice gaps of providers caring for geriatric patients," said Timothy Schwab, MD, chief medical officer of SCAN. "Through this, we hope to improve the quality of health care delivered to not only SCAN members but to all seniors in the community."

SCAN's Continuing Medical Education/Performance Improvement Education (CME/PIE) Program will focus on current issues in geriatric medicine and health care delivery, care of chronic illness, the introduction of new skills, practices and technologies, and the dissemination of new research findings. Performance Improvement Education (PIE) emphasizes more than just acquisition of knowledge, it aims to achieve a change in the way physicians practice. The program site will utilize multiple types of learning formats including case-based interactive modules, live conferences, medical group focused seminars and printed materials.

The focus for 2010-2011, according to Russell Brower, MD, medical director and CME chair for SCAN, is on interactive modules that "facilitate greater opportunity for development of physician learning and behavior change." Initial online course topics include chronic kidney disease in the elderly, stroke prevention and management, and prevention and management of venous thromboembolism. Physicians, nurses, pharmacists and social workers who want to improve their knowledge, competency and performance in the care of older adults may all access the site.

The new site also provides clinical guidelines, assessment tools, and literature regarding common geriatric medical conditions, all designed to assist healthcare professionals in better managing their older patients. Initial online guidelines focus in the areas of congestive heart failure, diabetes, depression, pulmonary disease and osteoporosis.

The launch of www.scancme.com is the latest in SCAN Health Plan's long commitment in the area of continuing medical education. Most recently, for example, the health plan once again joined with UCLA Academic Geriatric Resource Center and the California Geriatric Education Center to sponsor the eighth annual Leadership and Management in Geriatrics (LMG) Conference, which brought together healthcare professionals to discuss creative approaches to better caring for America's expanding senior population.

For more than 30 years, SCAN Health Plan has been focusing on the unique needs of seniors and is now the country's fourth largest not-for-profit Medicare Advantage plan. The company currently has nearly 130,000 members in California and Arizona. Further information may be obtained at scanhealthplan.com.

SOURCE SCAN Health Plan