LITTLE ROCK, AR, March 29, 2007 - The National Transitions of Care Coalition (NTOCC), founded just six months ago to solve transitional care issues, continues to build support within the health care industry and continues to draw great interest from consumer groups.  Originally started by 13 national leading health care industry organizations, NTOCC has expanded to include 23 groups representing participants from throughout the health care spectrum.  The group has been active over the last several months assessing the various options to improve transitional care and remains committed to working together rather than in industry and practice silos to make significant changes and recommendations. 

As NTOCC has grown it has generated significant public interest.  In order to accommodate the demand for additional information, NTOCC is pleased to announce that we have officially launched a public page on our website http://www.ntocc.org/ The website allows individuals to sign up for information and receive reports on the progress of the work being conducted by the various NTOCC work groups including Tools/Resources, Education/Awareness, Concept/Health Policy and Performance/Outcome Measurement.

Patients, especially older persons, face significant challenges when moving from one practice setting to another within our fragmented health care system.  Transitions in care settings include patients moving from primary care to specialty physicians; within the hospital, in addition to patients moving from the emergency department to various departments, such as surgery or intensive care, or when patients are discharged from the hospital and go home or to assisted living arrangements or skilled nursing facilities. During these transitions, barriers can impede communication or result in redundant or conflicting information that can create serious issues for patients, their caregivers and their families.

NTOCC is being led by the Case Management Society of America (CMSA) with support from sanofi aventis U.S. LLC.

Newest members of NTOCC are Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, American Medical Directors Association, Consumers Advancing Patient Safety, Health Services Advisory Group, National Business Coalition on Health, Predictive Health, LLC and Ontario Case Management Association.  They join the American College of Healthcare Executives, American Geriatrics Society, American Society of Healthcare Pharmacists, American Society on Aging, American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, Case Management Society of America, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety (ICPS), Liptiz Center for Integrated Health Care, Mid-America Coalition on Health Care, National Association of Social Workers, Society of Hospital Medicine and URAC.