Contact:
Al Lewis 781-856-3962, alewis@dismgmt.com

Wellesley, MA (January 22, 2007) — Following the wide acceptance of its savings measurement certification programs, The Disease Management Purchasing Consortium (DMPC) announced today that it will be offering Certification for Small Group Outcomes Measurement. "Just like pediatricians say that a child is not a little adult, a small group is not a small large group," explains DMPC President Al Lewis. "The Disease Management Association of America was wise to caution that its Outcomes Guidelines could only be applied to large groups. Running pre-post numbers is both expensive and inaccurate for groups of 50,000 lives or less."

As a result DMPC has developed a new set of tools for small group measurement and reporting in both disease management and wellness. These tools are available at no cost from the DMPC website, www.dismgmt.com/small_group_measurement.htm

There are two levels of certification. The basic level is a written commitment to use at least two of the measurement tools in small group reporting. The higher level offers a full review and validation of every small-group report by DMPC, together with a letter attesting that the outcomes are free of known biases in small-group reporting.

For many this will replace "validation" by auditors, which in most cases consists only of re-running numbers, rather than re-thinking the underlying principles. For others this will replace doing nothing, and/or accepting whatever results the pre-post data shows. Increasingly payors are skeptical of their results using any or all of those approaches – exactly the situation which this approach is designed to address.

In addition to the materials, three one-day seminars, to be held around the country March 27-29, will kick off the certification program. Information on these seminars is at www.srinstitute.com/dmroi.

Rules for certification are at www.dismgmt.com/small_group_measurement_certification_rules.htm.

About the Disease Management Purchasing Consortium

The Disease Management Purchasing Consortium Int'l, Inc. (DMPC) provides strategy and procurement services to support the disease management and wellness efforts of more than a hundred health plans, employers and states. The DMPC is led by Al Lewis, widely accepted as the founder and most influential leader in the disease management industry. Associate members include national health care accreditation organizations such as JCAHO and URAC, the Harvard School of Public Health, Bain & Co., Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey, and eight investment banks. DMPC also offers Certifications in Savings Measurement Validity, Small Group Outcomes Measurement, and Critical Outcomes Report Analysis. Programs and services are available at www.dismgmt.com.