About the INTERMED-Complexity Assessment Grid (IM-CAG)

Cartesian Solutions, Inc.^TM adapted the INTERMED, a complexity assessment and intervention tool resulting from 15 years of research performed in countries throughout Europe, to the health environment of the United States with assistance from members of the original multinational INTERMED research team. It is called the INTERMED-Complexity Assessment Grid (IM-CAG).

The IM-CAG, and its pediatric equivalent, the Pediatric INTERMED-Complexity Assessment Grid (PIM-CAG), use complexity-based barriers to improvement to create action oriented care plans used in integrated case management. Color-coded (red--needs immediate action; orange--problem that needs correction soon; yellow--potential problem; green--no problem) "anchored" item scores derived from an open-ended relationship-building dialogue with the patient allow the development of mutually agreed upon goals, actions designed to achieve the goals, the documentation of outcomes, and patient graduation.

While the European and U.S. grids are very similar, thus obviating the need to restandardize the instrument in the U.S. population, the U.S. version of the IM-CAG recognizes that barriers to care and improvement can also originate from fragmented service access and delivery, which is related to inconsistent, nonexistent, or unnecessarily complicated insurance and practitioner payment procedures. These are impediments to health largely unique to the United States.

Learn more about the IM-CAG by visiting the Cartesian Solutions, Inc. website at:
http://www.cartesiansolutions.com/careManagement/CM10_IM-CAG.shtml