ABSTRACT
16Chronic health diseases are physical or mental conditions that last more than one year and cause functional restrictions that require monitoring and treatment (Hajat and Stein, 2018). Patients with multiple chronic conditions experience frequent hospitalizations, die prematurely, require consultation with multiple specialists, and accrue high healthcare utilization rates (Navickas et al., 2016). They are also on multiple medications with complex drug interactions and have difficulty adhering to treatment that adversely impacts the quality of life and outcomes (Navickas et al., 2016). A significant proportion of the aging population (patients >65 years of age) is at higher risks of these chronic health diseases, with incidence impacting almost one-third of the world’s population and rates of patients experiencing greater than four chronic diseases at a time expected to double between 2015 and 2035 (Marengoni et al., 2011; Kingston et al., 2018).
