Barriers to Enrollment and Retention in Disease Management Programs

Management of chronic diseases has become increasingly important as the global burden of chronic diseases continues to increase. In Latin America there are significant gaps in the provision of chronic care management, with a pressing need to help patients better control their condition. One tool to address gaps in care management is through disease management programs, which include a set of coordinated interventions often with an educational component aimed to improve health outcomes and reduce costs. This paper uses the socio-ecological framework to describe barriers to disease management program enrollment and retention, as well as propose potential interventions to address these barriers. Addressing the many barriers ranging from the individual factors to larger organizational or policy factors requires multi-faceted interventions.