Chronic patients in Valencia region to be ‘classified’

A NEW classification for patients with chronic diseases is set to be implemented in the Valencian Region. These Clinical Risk Groups (CRGs) have been successful in both Canada and the US.

Further studies are being carried out to adapt these systems so that they can function here. Five per cent of the population in the Valencian Region consumes about 46 per cent of pharmaceuticals.

Especially for chronic patients who are undergoing five or more treatments simultaneously. The 830,000 people who are older than age 65 make up the majority of chronic patients. Various studies to track chronic patients and improve drug management and quality of care have bee conducted by the Regional Health Department and University of Valencia.

The first lot of results from these studies were presented in July at the eighth World Congress on Health Economics in Canada. In this report it was noted that due to the aging population in the Valencian Region the number of chronic patients has increased significantly.

Many of these patients have more than one pathology including hypertension, diabetes or Alzheimer’s, among others.

There are about 1.7 million people undergoing treatment in the Valencian Region.

The number of patients with chronic illnesses was found to increase in the first five years of life and then stabilize up to the age of 30, at which point it starts to increase until age 70, when it stabilizes again. 

Clinical Risk Groups

CRGs are a claims-based classification system for risk adjustment.

People are assigned to risk groups based on clinical information and domegraphic characteristics to predict the future use of healthcare resources.

The groups are ranked and based on the presence of chronic diseases and combinations of chronic diseases. Base CRGs are subdivided by levels of severity of illnesses.

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