A disease management program called "The Asheville Project" was developed by the City of Asheville and Mission Hospitals more than ten years ago. The program is so successful, it still attracts national news media, including The Washington Post, the New York Times, and NBC. 

The project aims to lower health care costs by helping employees better manage diseases like diabetes, asthma, hypertension and depression.

Here's how it works
Pharmacists are matched up with employees, who are already visiting the pharmacy for regular presciption refills, and follow them in a long-term, one-on-one counseling relationship. The pharmacists can perform blood tests, provide diet and exercise counseling, and follow the employee's progress to determine if current prescriptions are working to successfully manage the disease. Pharmacists can also recognize signs more serious complications, and recommend steps to prevent or reverse them.

Employees are encouraged to participate by receiving significantly reduced medication co-payments if they meet regularly with their assigned pharmacist.

The New York Times piece emphasizes the dramatic results achieved from this program, including the impressive success rate of the participants, half of whom had their blood sugar under control at the end of the first year of the program, increasing to two-thirds of participants by the end of the third year. Also noted is the savings of over $2,000 in medical costs for each patient per year.

The Asheville Project keeps people well and at work, and saves money on healthcare costs.