Consumer perspectives on the Camden Coalition care management RCT study findings

This is the second of a two-part webinar series on implications of the Camden Coalition’s RCT results. See Part 1 here. 

In 2020, a major article on “healthcare hotspotting” may have caught your eye. The article described findings from our four-year, prospective, 800-person randomized evaluation of the Camden Core Model, an innovative and comprehensive approach to care coordination for patients with very high use of healthcare services. The study found no differences in hospital utilization between patients randomly assigned to the Camden Core Model and those who received usual care. In 2023, two secondary analyses were published looking at intervention dosage and engagement. Then teaming back up with MIT’s J-PAL to publish a new analysis, we looked at more intermediate measures of care coordination. These studies help to explain the original RCT’s primary outcomes findings.

How do these findings align (or not) with the perspectives of complex care consumers and patient advocates? On May 9th we had a moderated panel with four National Consumer Scholars — advocates and activists with lived experience of complex health and social needs from across the country — as they shared their reactions to and reflections on the RCT findings.

• Pamela Corocan: Policy and regulatory advocate with AARP ME, Maine Women’s Lobby, and Maine Equal Justice
• Nohora Gutierrez: Member of the RIDE (Research, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity) Council, and the Next Steps Committee, activist with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and AARP advocate for improving the affordability and availability of specialty medicine for patients with chronic illnesses
• Emily Cowen: Advocate with Kids as Self-advocates (KASA), Youth as Self-advocates (YASA), the Youth Steering Committee, the Caregiver Coalition, and People First of Connecticut
• Carl Boyd: Community Liaison for the Center for Family Services, Parent Leader with New Jersey’s Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Prenatal to Three (ECCS P-3) / Help Me Grow program, Co- Chair for the Camden County Council for Young Children

The webinar was moderated by Dawn Wiest, Director of Research and Evaluation at the Camden Coalition.