Disease management programs in the USA and Europe are comparable (yet?) different

I recently attended the Third Colloqium 2006 of the Disease Management Association of America (DMAA) in Philadelphia. Over three days, more than 300 researchers, health care providers and policy makers followed nearly eighty speakers on many aspects of Disease Management Programs (DMPs). I was the only visitor from Europe. Being there I had feelings of coming home: DMPs are in some aspects comparable with those in Europe. I had also the sensation that I had arrived on another planet: DMPs are in other aspects totally different. Based on the experiences in Philadelphia, I have made a comparison between the USA and Europe w1x. This is, of course, only a comparison based on a three-day congress visit.