Multiple Chronic Conditions Education and Training

Persons living with multiple chronic conditions (PLWMCC) experience unique challenges because their healthcare is more complex and costly than that of persons living with one chronic disease. Through the HHS Multiple Chronic Conditions (MCC) Initiative, the HHS MCC Strategic Framework is a guide for improving health outcomes for PLWMCC. Goal 3 of the Framework calls for the need to provide better tools and information to health care, public health, and social services workers who deliver care to PLWMCC.

In 2013, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration launched an interprofessional healthcare education and training initiative. The HHS Education and Training Resources on Multiple Chronic Conditions (MCC) for the Healthcare Workforce is a new set of training materials for a wide variety of educators and faculty of healthcare professionals across the educational continuum (undergraduate, graduate and continuing education) focused on improving the care for the MCC population. These resources will benefit academic faculty across the education continuum, professional organizations, accreditation or certification organizations, health administrators and healthcare workers. The HHS Education and Training Resources on MCC consist of:

Repository

The MCC Education and Training Repository is a searchable database of education and training resources that specifically address the care of PLWMCC. The resources included in this database are funded by government agencies, academic institutions and health care organizations that support health professionals and a variety of health care disciplines. The selected resources were identified from an environmental scan of the literature, publicly-available websites, a technical expert workgroup and key healthcare experts.

A Framework for Education and Training

The Multiple Chronic Conditions: A Framework for Education and Training outlines the core domains and competencies essential to caring for PLWMCC. The domains include being able to

Embrace person- and family-centered approaches to care;
Promote self-management support;
Acquire and use knowledge for practice in complex patient care;
Work through interprofessional collaboration;
Provide care across settings through coordinated care delivery; and
Participate in systems-based practice.

The high-level competencies for addressing each domain included in the framework are expected to be tailored based on the level of education and healthcare disciplines of the trainees. The overarching goal of this framework is to enhance the skills and abilities of interprofessional teams that care for PLWMCC.

Curriculum

The Education and Training Curriculum on MCC is a web-based series of modules for educators and faculty across the education continuum to equip healthcare professionals and paraprofessionals with useful tools and knowledge on caring for PLWMCC across settings. The curriculum is based on six core domains described in Multiple Chronic Conditions: A Framework for Education and Training. The entire curriculum may be integrated into existing education and training programs or individual modules may be used selectively.