Six Features Of Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration Programs That Cut Hospital Admissions Of High-Risk Patients

• DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2012.0393
• Publication Date: 2012-06-05T06:44:05Z
• Authors: Randall S. Brown; Deborah Peikes; Greg Peterson; Jennifer Schore; Carol M. Razafind...
• Keywords: Disease management

As policy makers seek to slow the growth in Medicare spending, they have appropriately focused attention on beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions. Many care coordination and disease management programs designed improve beneficiaries’ reduce their need for hospitalizations been tested, but few successful. This study, however, found that four of eleven were part Coordinated Care Demonstration reduced by 8–33 percent among enrollees who had a high risk near-term hospitalization. The six approaches practiced coordinators at least three as follows: supplementing telephone calls patients frequent in-person meetings; occasionally meeting person providers; acting communications hub delivering evidence-based education patients; providing strong medication management; timely comprehensive transitional after hospitalizations. When fees included, essentially cost-neutral, none these generated net savings Medicare. Our results suggest incorporating into medical homes, accountable organizations, other initiatives could patients’ lives. However, would save money only if modest organizations cost-effective ways deliver interventions.