Written answer
Disease Management
The Minister said universal expansion is not currently planned, though broader eligibility may be considered under Sláintecare following clinical consultation and costing.
538. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Health if she will expand the Chronic Disease Management Programme to all adults with eligible chronic conditions, regardless of whether they hold a medical card or GP visit card; and the estimated cost and timeframe for implementing this expansion. [66409/26]
Comment on this
Under the GMS scheme, the HSE contracts GPs to provide medical services without charge to medical card and GP visit card holders. The GP Chronic Disease Management (CDM) Programme provides structured, GP-led care for adult GMS (Medical Card and GP Visit Card) patients.
The specified chronic conditions included in the Programme are Type 2 Diabetes; Asthma; Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Cardiovascular Disease (including Heart Failure, Ischaemic Heart Disease, Cerebrovascular Disease (Stroke/Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA), Atrial Fibrillation).
In 2023, the programme was expanded to include adult GMS patients with hypertension, and all women diagnosed with gestational diabetes or pre-eclampsia. Work is currently underway to further expand the programme to include chronic kidney disease, among other conditions.
It is not currently planned to expand eligibility for the Programme to all patients on a universal basis. However, this may be considered in the context of broader expansions of eligibility and the implementation of Sláintecare. It is important to note that any expansion of the Programme requires careful clinical consideration and consultation with GPs and other stakeholders to ensure that the expansion can be rolled out effectively and to define the phasing and time-scale of the expansion. The cost of the expansion could be determined only once those elements are defined.