Guided Care, a new model of comprehensive health care for people with multiple chronic conditions, has received the 2008 Archstone Foundation Award for Excellence in Program Innovation. The award is given annually by the Archstone Foundation and the Gerontological Health Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA). Guided Care was developed by members of the faculties of the Johns Hopkins University’s schools of Public Health, Medicine and Nursing. "We seek to honor programs like Guided Care that have the potential to improve services to older adults throughout the U.S.," said Allan Goldman, MPH, chair of the Archstone Foundation Awards Committee. "Guided Care has linked academic theory with applied practice in the field of public health and aging in a truly innovative care model.” "We are honored to be recognized for our efforts to improve health care for adults with chronic conditions," said Chad Boult, MD, MPH, MBA, principal investigator of the Guided Care study and director of the Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Guided Care seeks to raise the bar for the health care of adults with complex health conditions, and recognition from the Archstone Foundation and the APHA will help us meet this goal." In Guided Care, a specially trained nurse works closely with three or four primary care physicians to care for patients who suffer from multiple chronic conditions. Guided Care is designed to improve patients’ quality of life and quality of care, while improving the efficiency of the health care resources they use. A multi-site, randomized controlled trial of Guided Care involving 49 physicians, 904 older patients and 319 family members is now underway in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area. The study is funded by a public-private partnership of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institute on Aging, the John A. Hartford Foundation, and the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation. Early data show that Guided Care improves the quality of care, reduces health care costs, reduces family caregivers’ strain, and improves physicians’ satisfaction with the care they provide. For more information, go to www.guidedcare.org. The 2008 Archstone Award for Excellence was given at the 136th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association in San Diego on October 27, 2008. About the Archstone Foundation
The Archstone Foundation is a private grant making organization whose mission is to contribute toward the preparation of society in meeting the needs of an aging population. The Archstone Foundation has awarded more than $71 million in grants since 1986. Funding priorities include elder abuse and neglect, fall prevention, end-of-life issues, and responsive grantmaking to address emerging issues within the aging population. Contact for Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Tim Parsons at 410-955-7619 or tmparson@jhsph.edu. | 
