Copanitsanou Panagiota
Background: Disease Management (DM) is an approach to healthcare according to which resources are coordinated across the healthcare system and throughout the course of a disease. The purpose of the present review was to identify and evaluate all the studies about DM implementation in Greece, a country with distinct geographical characteristics and abnormal distribution of healthcare services. Method and Material: Bibliographic data were gathered from electronic databases (PubMed, Cinahl, Cochrane Library), using the key words “disease management”, “Greece”, “cost control”, “public health”, “patient care”, “outcomes”, “resources”, as well as by manual search. Only studies examining the effects of DM programs on clinical, patient- centred, and process outcomes, or evaluating the utilization of DM programs were included. Studies should have been published from 2009 onwards, in order to identify the most recent studies and depict the most current situation. Results: DM is not well applied in Greece; the primary healthcare setting has not been sufficiently developed and the percentage of population receiving screening services remains low. The shortages of healthcare professionals have aggravated the problem. Programs with lifestyle interventions are feasible and accompanied by beneficial changes. Conclusions: In total, the need for development and integration of primary healthcare is the issue mostly underlined in the majority of the Greek studies. Such integration will reduce hospital utilization and delay for treatment, and will increase accessibility to healthcare services.
