Exploring Opportunities for Social Infrastructure in Congestive Heart Failure Management

Abstract

As population ages and chronic disease increases, new models of health care delivery are inevitable. We propose to interweave the concept of chronic care management into social infrastructure to better support elderly individuals with chronic diseases. As an exemplar, we chose and investigated Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), since it is one of serious health threats among the elderly population in western society. From a preliminary investigation of literature and prior work, we suggest two implications for social care of chronic patients: increased social awareness, and social knowledge base. This is not an exhaustive list of implications, but a starting point to open up discussions towards social care for chronic diseases.