Beacon Communities

Portrait of Dan Porreca

Using Telemonitoring for Preventative Diabetes Care in the Western New York Beacon Community

Dan Porreca | July 10, 2012

According to the New York State Department of Health, diabetes affects one out of every 12 adult New Yorkers. The number of diabetics in New York State has more than doubled since 1994 and that number could double again by 2050. Western New York, which includes Buffalo and eight counties ranging from urban to suburban and rural, has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the country with approximately 150,000 diabetic patients. 

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Portrait of Christina Markle

Beacon Community Program’s Second Anniversary: A Story from the Field and Successes from Year 2

Christina Markle | June 4, 2012

Celebrating the second anniversary of the Beacon Community Program is about telling our stories, and reaching out to other communities as they begin their own health IT implementation. The Beacon Community Program office wants to acknowledge the on-the-ground work of Beacon Communities nationwide. If you haven’t yet personally received care from one of the many providers connected to a Beacon Community, this is what real people in the field are sharing about their experience with Beacons.

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Portrait of Craig Brammer

Beacon Community Program’s 2nd Anniversary: America’s Most Wired Communities Light the Way

Craig Brammer | May 4, 2012

Every day, technology is improving how we do business, how we stay in touch and how we take better care of our health. Technology is modernizing our world. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was the down payment to accelerate the use of technology as the foundation for the broader health care improvement revolution, and two years later we are realizing the rewards of the initial investment. Leaders in communities across the country understood that innovative technology was critical to success in a transformed payment environment,

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Portrait of Terrisca des Jardins

Southeast Michigan Beacon Community: Helping Patients with Diabetes Management

Terrisca des Jardins | March 9, 2012

The numbers are staggering.
Treating diabetes in Michigan costs more than $8 billion annually, according to the 2010 report “The Economic Burden of Diabetes,” and affects approximately 93,000 individuals in the state’s underserved southeast region, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  Behavior Risk Factor Survey 2008 Age Adjusted Estimates. Most of these patients lack access to a range of resources needed for effective diabetes management, including financial resources, dietary guidance, and public fitness facilities.

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Portrait of Pierce Graham-Jones

How Can Health IT Lead to a More Sustainable Health Care System?

Pierce Graham-Jones | February 3, 2012

Across the country, health care providers are making significant investments to redesign care processes and strengthen their health information technology (health IT) capabilities with the goal of achieving better care, better health, and lower costs. For the American health care system as a whole, the simultaneous pursuit of all three of these aims is essential to sustaining any one of them.

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