The Effect of the Patient Activation Measure on Chronic Care

We will test - in a chronically ill managed long term care population - the effectiveness of an intervention that provides nurse Care Managers with an inventory of evidence-based practices tailored to patients with different levels of knowledge, skills and confidence to engage in self-care management. Specifically, we will develop a \"change package\" of evidence-based hypertension (HTN) management strategies geared to patients scoring at the four different stages of activation on the Patient Activation Measure (PAM). We will randomly assign a group of interdisciplinary teams in the managed long-term care plan to intervention or control status and will train the Care Managers on the Intervention teams to use the change package in conjunction with a patient\'s PAM score to design - with the involvement of the patient - an individualized HTN management plan. We then will assess the impact of the intervention on patient activation and outcomes.