Contact our staff to schedule an appointment.
Articles on Home Care and Home Care Statistics
The following articles on home care support a home physician based model as being cost effective for the care of high cost patients. Our goal at Home Physicians is to address the needs of these patients, decrease their total spending, and improve both patient and caregiver satisfaction. Improving the care and reducing costs for high cost, complex patients requires a continued investment in focused, trained resources in geriatrics, case management, and social work. We at Home Physicians continually strive to improve every facet of our business to offer our patients the highest quality home care available.
High Cost Medicare Beneficiaries
In May 2005, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published an in-depth study entitled, “High Cost Medicare Beneficiaries”. It conclusively showed that 10% of Medicare beneficiaries consumed 61% of total benefits, and the top 25% used 85% of total benefits. While it didn’t recommend concrete solutions, it’s clear that the potential solution to Medicare costs rests with a small percentage of total beneficiaries.
Tracking the Care of Patients with Severe Chronic Illness
The article on home care entitled “Tracking the Care of Patients with Severe Chronic Illness,” published by the Dartmouth Institute in 2008, addresses the quality of care for elderly with more than one chronic condition. It clearly identifies that care is uneven, episodic, and rarely coordinated. While most believe that treatment in prestigious medical facilities, with greater access and frequency would improve care, it shows the opposite is true. It also demonstrates that a physician based in either a hospital or office based practice cannot truly appreciate the obstacles faced by a patient in their living environment and it’s extremely difficult to coordinate their care.
Outcomes of Care by Hospitalists, General Internists, and Family Practice
“Outcomes of Care by Hospitalists, General Internists, and Family Practice” takes a closer look at hospital stays, costs, inpatient rates of death, and 14-day readmission rates. While skeptic in the current trend to use hospitalists would argue that having the same physician follow the patient in and out of the hospital would lead to better care at a lower price, this paper shows exactly the opposite to be true. Major positives for the hospitalists were their familiarity with the latest treatment guidelines and knowledge of the hospital facility and staff. Significant negatives for the Primary Care Physician model were the lack of appropriate follow-up care, knowledge and usage of home support services, and ability to function well in the hospital environment.
Chronic Home Care: A Health Plan’s Experience
A house call program with 91 clients in a Nevada Social HMO produced 62% reduction in hospital stays, saving $439,825 a year in acute, skilled, and sub-acute stays, with a net savings of $261,225 (SL Phillips et al, “Chronic Home Care: A Health Plan’s Experience” Annals of Long Term Care; 2004.) These home care statistics showed that coordinated care at home for the chronically ill improved both costs and outcomes.
Increase Utilization of Outpatient Services
Three articles on home care were recently presented at the American Geriatric Society Meeting in May 2008. The Healthplan of Nevada and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs presented their results and were able to identify high cost beneficiaries and enroll them into a home physician based model. In both cases, there was a cost shift to increase utilization of outpatient services that translated to significant decreases in Emergency Room visits and inpatient bed days.
All of these articles on home care and home care statistics conclude that the chronically ill are expensive, and receive inconsistent and poorly coordinated care. In order for the U.S. to address both quality and costs, we must examine different models of providing care.