The rapid growth of chronic illness in the U.S. population underscores the critical need for innovative to improve care for long-term conditions. Advancing and sustaining improvements in the care of the chronically ill requires a multi-faceted approach, as well as interaction between clinical care providers, the community, and researchers who identify and test promising interventions. Since 2002, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) national program, Improving Chronic Illness Care has convened individuals with expertise in care delivery, research, and quality improvement with the express purpose of accelerating innovations in care for chronic conditions. To our knowledge, no other such forum exists that brings researchers and improvement experts together to address the quality gap in chronic care. We are therefore proposing the Third National Congress on Improving Chronic Care, supported in part by RWJF, with the following specific aims: 1) To advance the real-world implementation of effective interventions. 2) To integrate recent research innovations into clinical systems. 3) To foster initiatives to improve the care of chronic illness regionally or community-wide. To optimize communication and participation, we are proposing a meeting of approximately 200 attendees. In our experience, this smaller gathering promotes a focused opportunity for knowledge exchange, and permits a thorough exploration of the theoretical and practical challenges of translating research innovations into practice. This application seeks partial funding for the Third National Congress on Improving Chronic Care. The Congress will take place September 21-23, 2004, in Seattle, Washington.
