U.S. and German case studies in chronic care management: an overview

In December 2004, the Bertelsmann Stiftung, The Commonwealth Fund, and AcademyHealth jointly sponsored a conference in Berlin, Germany on "Case Studies in Chronic Care Management." This conference assembled representatives from the U.S. and German Governments, several organizations that had developed chronic care management initiatives in the two countries, and other health care and policy experts to discuss clinical, organizational, and financing issues. The case studies discussed at the conference are presented in this issue of the Review; this article describes some relevant considerations that are common to the U.S. and German health systems.