Healthcare Chronic Disease Management Clinical Foundations™

What you will learn

This program has four parts. By the end of each part, you should be able to:

Part 1: Foundations of Chronic Disease Management & Patient-Centered Care

• Define chronic disease and explain its impact on individuals, caregivers, and healthcare systems.
• Identify major chronic diseases affecting adult populations and describe their general characteristics, risk factors, and common complications.
• Differentiate modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors and apply practical risk-reduction strategies.
• Explain the core principles of effective chronic disease management, including monitoring, prevention, follow-up, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Use patient-centered approaches that respect patient goals, preferences, health literacy, and quality-of-life considerations.
• Support patient self-management by reinforcing symptom monitoring, medication routines, goal setting, and sustainable behavior change.

Part 2: Cardiovascular, Metabolic & Renal Chronic Disease Management

• Explain chronic disease management principles for common cardiovascular, metabolic, and renal conditions.
• Recognize monitoring priorities and subtle changes that may signal worsening chronic disease.
• Identify common complications associated with poorly controlled diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease.
• Support medication adherence, lifestyle modification, and patient self-management using practical, patient-centered strategies.
• Describe how diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and kidney disease influence one another over time.
• Recognize barriers to effective chronic disease management and when findings require referral, additional assessment, or escalation.

Part 3: Respiratory, Neurological & Complex Chronic Condition Management

• Explain chronic disease management principles for respiratory, neurological, musculoskeletal, pain-related, and complex chronic conditions.
• Monitor symptoms, baseline status, and functional change in patients living with chronic respiratory disease.
• Identify safety, mobility, communication, swallowing, and quality-of-life concerns in chronic neurological conditions.
• Recognize how chronic musculoskeletal disease and chronic symptom burden affect independence, activity, and daily function.
• Support medication adherence, self-management, and patient-centered education for long-term chronic illness.
• Recognize changes that suggest worsening chronic disease, complications, or the need for referral or escalation.

Part 4: Integrated Chronic Disease Care, Self-Management & Long-Term Health Outcomes

• Integrate chronic disease management principles into long-term patient-centered care.
• Support patients managing multiple chronic conditions with realistic, whole-person strategies.
• Strengthen patient self-management, health behavior support, and sustainable routine-building.
• Identify barriers, early warning signs, and preventable complications that worsen chronic disease outcomes.
• Promote medication adherence, appropriate monitoring, and timely intervention.
• Collaborate across disciplines to improve quality of life, function, and long-term health outcomes.

Program details

• Self-paced online program for healthcare professionals
• Program length: 10 hours, in four parts
• Includes graded assessments you must pass to complete the program
• Earn a downloadable Certificate of Completion upon successful program completion—ideal for documenting professional development and submitting to your employer for potential reimbursement
• Each certificate has a verification ID that employers can check at nahcp.com/verify

Program length describes the length of the program, not a number of continuing-education credits. Check with your employer or licensing board before submitting a program for credit or reimbursement.