The cost of home hospice care for terminal patients in Israel

This study examined and compared the cost of care provided to terminal metastatic cancer patients by home hospices and by conventional health services. The study population included 146 patients with metastatic cancer. Half received home hospice services, and the other half received conventional services. The average overall per-patient cost of care was, respectively, $4761 (operating costs included) and $12 434. On average, the costs were lower for older patients. A multiple regression analysis revealed that treatment units per patient, care framework, and patient age significantly contributed to explaining the cost variance. The findings suggest a financial advantage for home hospice care for terminal patients. This should be investigated further, as should the cost of informal caregivers and patient and caregiver satisfaction with the quality of care in both frameworks.     

What does hospice cost?

This paper presents the preliminary results of the economic analyses of the National Hospice Study (NHS), mandated by the United States Congress to investigate the implications of including hospice services in Medicare. Data were collected over an 18-month period from approximately 4,000 patients receiving hospice and conventional terminal care in 25 hospices and 12 conventional care sites. Subsequent analysis may lead to changes in the specific results, and some of the differences may be due to confounding variables that cannot be adjusted for. According to these data, hospital based (HB) hospice costs per day are 44 per cent higher than home care (HC) hospice costs per day ($95 versus $66, respectively). In addition, per patient hospice costs are 24 per cent more for patients enrolled in HB than in HC hospices ($5,890 versus $4,758, respectively). The proportional difference between HB and HC in cost per patient is smaller than the cost per day difference due to the shorter average HB length of stay, 62.3 days compared to 72.5 days for HC. Regarding the cost savings of hospice compared to conventional care, HC hospice costs are lower than conventional care costs regardless of length of stay. However, HB costs seem lower than conventional care costs only for patients with lengths of stay less than two months. Hospice and conventional care patients appear to differ with respect to predisposition toward intensive health care utilization. When this difference is explored more thoroughly in subsequent analyses, the estimated cost differential between hospice and conventional care may change.     

PMH2 Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life During Treatment of Opiate Dependence using the Short Form-36

In the U.S., acute general hospitals increasingly provide treatment for patients with schizophrenia.
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the average annual cost of inpatient schizophrenia care per patient in an acute general hospital setting.
METHODS: Using ICD9 codes to identify disease and procedure-level data in five state (CA, FL, MA, MD, NC) acute care, all payer, discharge databases, an average cost per admission was estimated and combined with the frequency of admission calculated from the MA database to derive a mean annual acute care inpatient cost. Physician costs were calculated by applying 1997 Medicare fees to a resource use profile derived from the databases and published treatment recommendations. All costs are reported in 1997 US$, appropriately adjusted for medical inflation and cost-to-charge ratios.
RESULTS: Of 7.5 millions discharges, 73,000 were identified as having been admitted primarily due to schizophrenia. The average length of stay was 13.5 days, with 90% of time spent in a designated psychiatric bed. Over 90% were discharged within one month, most (∼80%) to home without documentation of further services. The mean cost per stay (including physician fees) was $8,963. Most (68%) patients had only one admission, and 96% had less than five in one year, leading to annual hospitalization cost per schizophrenic patient of $13,854.
CONCLUSIONS: Of schizophrenic patients admitted to an acute general hospital, the majority are admitted only once per year, spend their stay in a designated psychiatric unit bed, and are discharged within two weeks. Although these patients may have subsequent admissions to another type of inpatient facility, the majority are not transferred to such a facility at the time of discharge.     

Breast cancer: better care for less cost. Is it possible?

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the potential for cost reduction in the acute care setting and the required investment in the home care setting of implementing an outpatient/early discharge strategy for operable (stages I and II) breast cancer in Canada. METHODS: Data from a community hospital were augmented by expert knowledge and incorporated into the breast cancer submodel of Statistics Canada's Population Health Model. For the estimated 90% of patients for whom this approach was assumed to be appropriate, the resource utilization for outpatient breast-conserving surgery and 2 days of hospitalization for those women undergoing mastectomy was quantified and costed, as were the appropriate home care services. A 5% readmission rate for complications was assumed. Cost per case, total cost burden, investment in home care, savings in acute care, and net savings were calculated. Sensitivity analyses were performed around readmission rates and home care/surgical follow-up costs. All costs were determined in 1995 Canadian dollars. RESULTS: The cost of initial treatment for the 15,399 women diagnosed with stages I and II breast cancer in 1995 in Canada was estimated to be $127.6 million. Hospitalization made up 53% of these costs. Under the outpatient/early discharge strategy, the acute care cost of initial breast cancer management could be reduced by $47.2 million, with an investment in home care of $14.5 million ($453 per patient), resulting in an overall net saving of $33 million. Under this strategy, hospitalization would contribute only 21% to the total care cost. CONCLUSIONS: If Canadian surgeons and healthcare administrators were to work together to put in place processes to support ambulatory breast cancer surgery and if resources were redirected to the provision of home-based post-operative care, there would be potential for a large net healthcare saving and preservation of high-quality patient care.     

Continuity of care and health care cost among community‐dwelling older adult veterans living with dementia

ObjectivesTo estimate the causal impact of continuity of care (COC) on total, institutional, and noninstitutional cost among community‐dwelling older veterans with dementia.Data SourcesCombined Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Medicare data in Fiscal Years (FYs) 2014‐2015.Study DesignFY 2014 COC was measured by the Bice‐Boxerman Continuity of Care (BBC) index on a 0‐1 scale. FY 2015 total combined VHA and Medicare cost, institutional cost of acute inpatient, emergency department [ED], long‐/short‐stay nursing home, and noninstitutional long‐term care (LTC) cost for medical (like skilled‐) and social (like unskilled‐) services were assessed controlling for covariates. An instrumental variable for COC (change of residence by more than 10 miles) was used to account for unobserved health confounders.Data CollectionCommunity‐dwelling veterans with dementia aged 66 and older, enrolled in Traditional Medicare (N = 102 073).Principal FindingsMean BBC in FY 2014 was 0.32; mean total cost in FY 2015 was $35 425. A 0.1 higher BBC resulted in (a) $4045 lower total cost; (b) $1597 lower acute inpatient cost, $119 lower ED cost, $4368 lower long‐stay nursing home cost; (c) $402 higher noninstitutional medical LTC and $764 higher noninstitutional social LTC cost. BBC had no impact on short‐stay nursing home cost.ConclusionsCOC is an effective approach to reducing total health care cost by supporting noninstitutional care and reducing institutional care.     

Is home health care a substitute for hospital care?

A previous study used aggregate (region-level) data to investigate whether home health care serves as a substitute for inpatient hospital care and concluded that "there is no evidence that services provided at home replace hospital services." However, that study was based on a cross-section of regions observed at a single point of time and did not control for unobserved regional heterogeneity. In this article, state-level employment data are used to reexamine whether home health care serves as a substitute for inpatient hospital care. This analysis is based on longitudinal (panel) data--observations on states in two time periods--which enable the reduction or elimination of biases that arise from use of cross-sectional data. This study finds that states that had higher home health care employment growth during the period 1998-2008 tended to have lower hospital employment growth, controlling for changes in population. Moreover, states that had higher home health care payroll growth tended to have lower hospital payroll growth. The estimates indicate that the reduction in hospital payroll associated with a $1,000 increase in home health payroll is not less than $1,542, and may be as high as $2,315. This study does not find a significant relationship between growth in utilization of home health care and growth in utilization of nursing and residential care facilities. An important reason why home health care may serve as a substitute for hospital care is that the availability of home health care may allow patients to be discharged from the hospital earlier. Hospital discharge data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project are used to test the hypothesis that use of home health care reduces the length of hospital stays. Major Diagnostic Categories with larger increases in the fraction of patients discharged to home health care tended to have larger declines in mean length of stay (LOS). Between 1998 and 2008, mean LOS declined by 4.1%, from 4.78 to 4.59 days. The estimates are consistent with the hypothesis that this was entirely due to the increase in the fraction of hospital patients discharged to home health care, from 6.4% in 1998 to 9.9% in 2008. The estimated reduction in 2008 hospital costs resulting from the rise in the fraction of hospital patients discharged to home health care may have been 36% larger than the increase in the payroll of the home health care industry.     

Is Home Health Care a Substitute for Hospital Care?

A previous study used aggregate (region-level) data to investigate whether home health care serves as a substitute for inpatient hospital care and concluded that “there is no evidence that services provided at home replace hospital services.” However, that study was based on a cross-section of regions observed at a single point of time and did not control for unobserved regional heterogeneity. In this article, state-level employment data are used to reexamine whether home health care serves as a substitute for inpatient hospital care. This analysis is based on longitudinal (panel) data—observations on states in two time periods—which enable the reduction or elimination of biases that arise from use of cross-sectional data. This study finds that states that had higher home health care employment growth during the period 1998–2008 tended to have lower hospital employment growth, controlling for changes in population. Moreover, states that had higher home health care payroll growth tended to have lower hospital payroll growth. The estimates indicate that the reduction in hospital payroll associated with a $1,000 increase in home health payroll is not less than $1,542, and may be as high as $2,315. This study does not find a significant relationship between growth in utilization of home health care and growth in utilization of nursing and residential care facilities. An important reason why home health care may serve as a substitute for hospital care is that the availability of home health care may allow patients to be discharged from the hospital earlier. Hospital discharge data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project are used to test the hypothesis that use of home health care reduces the length of hospital stays. Major Diagnostic Categories with larger increases in the fraction of patients discharged to home health care tended to have larger declines in mean length of stay (LOS). Between 1998 and 2008, mean LOS declined by 4.1%, from 4.78 to 4.59 days. The estimates are consistent with the hypothesis that this was entirely due to the increase in the fraction of hospital patients discharged to home health care, from 6.4% in 1998 to 9.9% in 2008. The estimated reduction in 2008 hospital costs resulting from the rise in the fraction of hospital patients discharged to home health care may have been 36% larger than the increase in the payroll of the home health care industry.     

Outcomes of the Kaiser Permanente Tele-Home Health Research Project

CONTEXT: Level of acuity and number of referrals for home health care have been escalating exponentially. As referrals continue to increase, health care organizations are encouraged to find more effective methods for providing high-quality patient care with cost savings. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of remote video technology in the home health care setting as well as the quality, use, patient satisfaction, and cost savings from this technology. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental study conducted from May 1996 to October 1997. SETTING: Home health department in the Sacramento, Calif, facility of a large health maintenance organization. PARTICIPANTS: Newly referred patients diagnosed as having congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cerebral vascular accident, cancer, diabetes, anxiety, or need for wound care were eligible for random assignment to intervention (n = 102) or control (n = 110) groups. INTERVENTION: The control and intervention groups received routine home health care (home visits and telephone contact). The intervention group also had access to a remote video system that allowed nurses and patients to interact in real time. The video system included peripheral equipment for assessing cardiopulmonary status. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Three quality indicators (medication compliance, knowledge of disease, and ability for self-care); extent of use of services; degree of patient satisfaction as reported on a 3-part scale; and direct and indirect costs of using the remote video technology. RESULTS: No differences in the quality indicators, patient satisfaction, or use were seen. Although the average direct cost for home health services was $1830 in the intervention group and $1167 in the control group, the total mean costs of care, excluding home health care costs, were $1948 in the intervention group and $2674 in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Remote video technology in the home health care setting was shown to be effective, well received by patients, capable of maintaining quality of care, and to have the potential for cost savings. Patients seemed pleased with the equipment and the ability to access a home health care provider 24 hours a day. Remote technology has the potential to effect cost savings when used to substitute some in-person visits and can also improve access to home health care staff for patients and caregivers. This technology can thus be an asset for patients and providers.     

Managing Meningococcal Disease in the United States: Hospital Case Characteristics and Costs by Age

OBJECTIVE: Meningococcal disease occurs worldwide. Approximately 1400 to 2800 cases are reported in the United States annually. The goal of this analysis was to examine hospitalized cases of meningitis and meningococcemia to identify case characteristics, resource use, and inpatient care costs. METHODS: International Classification of Diseases-9th Revision-Clinical Modification diagnosis codes 036.0-036.9 were used to identify cases from roughly 1000 hospitals in four all payer state discharge databases. Multiyear data (1999-2001) were examined to identify demographics, admission month, health service utilization, and hospital costs by age group: infant (<1 years), children (1-10 years), adolescent (11-17 years), young adult (18-22 years), adults (23-49 years), and adults (> or =50 years). Cost estimates include accommodations, ancillary and physician services, reported in 2003 US dollars. RESULTS: Of 1654 cases of meningococcal disease identified, meningococcemia was coded for 51%. Adults accounted for 33% of the cases. The highest rate of admissions occurred from January through March and 62% were admitted via the Emergency Department. Inpatient case fatality rate was 6.4%; 71% of those who died had meningococcemia. The mean length of stay was 9 days. Of survivors, 91% were discharged home (1% with intravenous medications and 11% with other home health-care services) while 7% required further subacute inpatient care. The average cost per hospitalization was estimated at 23,294 dollars per patient. Infants had the lowest average cost per stay (16,793 dollars) and adolescents had the highest (28,202 dollars). CONCLUSIONS: The presence of meningococcemia results in a greater death rate, longer length of stay, and increased care costs. Meningococcal disease has substantial economic, as well as profound clinical consequences for patients of all ages.     

济南市农村居民住院服务利用率及费用影响因素

目的了解济南市农村居民的住院服务利用率、住院费用及其影响因素,为合理利用住院服务、有效控制住院费用上涨提供依据。方法采用分层随机抽样方法对在济南市抽取的章丘市、长清区、平阴县3个市(县、区)共3 458名居民进行问卷调查。结果济南市农村居民2006和2008年的住院服务利用率分别为4.89%和3.90%,次均住院费用分别为6 385.74和7 127.08元,日均住院费分别为459.34和534.17元,新农合补偿费用分别为701.49和914.82元,新农合补偿比例分别为10.99%和12.84%,自付费用比例分别为89.01%和87.16%;不同特征农村居民比较,不同性别、年龄、职业、文化程度、自评健康状况、吸烟、饮酒情况的农村居民的住院服务利用率间差异均有统计学意义(P<0.05),不同地区、经济收入居民的住院服务利用率间差异均无统计学意义(P>0.05);多因素回归分析结果表明,自评健康状况较差是济南市农村居民住院概率的危险因素,年龄15～24岁是农村居民住院概率的保护因素;住院天数、新农合补偿费用、住院机构、住院疾病和地区是农村居民住院费用的主要影响因素。结论济南市农村居民住院服务利用率较低,住院费用较高,新农合补偿较少;完善各级医疗机构分流制度、缩短住院时间、加大新农合补偿力度是控制住院费用、减轻农民经济负担的有效手段。     

A comparison of inpatient severity, average length of stay, and cost for traditional fee-for-service medicare and medicare HMOs in Florida

This research compares the mean severity level, length of stay, and cost of Medicare health maintenance organization (HMO) and Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) inpatients. The results suggest Medicare HMOs have healthier inpatients and shorter lengths of stay, but more costly per-day utilization. These findings are contrary to the assumption that HMOs reduce daily utilization.     

Depression, service utilization, and treatment costs among Medicare elderly: gender differences.

OBJECTIVE: To compare gender differences in mood disorders, service utilization, and health care costs among a random sample of Medicare elderly beneficiaries of Tennessee. DATA SOURCES: Medicare expenditure data from a 5% random sample of Tennessee Medicare beneficiaries (n = 35,673) were examined for 1991-1993. The physician reimbursement files provided data relative to ICD-9 diagnostic codes, physician visits, and the cost of physician services provided. Other service utilization and cost data were obtained for the sample from the outpatient, home health, skilled nursing, hospice and inpatient files. STUDY DESIGN: The dependent variables were: (i) patients with ICD-9 diagnosis for a mood disorder (major depression and other depression), (ii) service utilization (number of outpatient visits, skilled nursing visits, home health visits, physician visits, emergency visits, and inpatient days), and (iii) health care costs (dollar amount of physician cost, outpatient cost, inpatient cost, total mental health cost, total health cost, and other cost). The independent variable was gender. PRINCIPLE FINDINGS: Chi-square tests showed that among the patients with a mood disorder, females had a significantly higher incidence than males of major depression (1.3% vs. .4%, respectively, p < .001) and other depression (1.6% vs. .6%, respectively, p < .001). Further, t-test results indicated that females diagnosed with major depression utilized significantly more outpatient services than males (3.2 vs. 2.6, respectively, p < .04). Total health care costs for those with other depression were significantly higher for males than females ($15,060 vs. $10,240, respectively, p < .002). CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that mood disorders, outpatient services, and total mental health costs are higher for females than males; however, total health care costs are higher for males than females.     

Hospitalization charges for patients in the Neurology Department of Lomé Teaching Hospital

For many years the cost of health care in sub-Saharan Africa was largely covered by the State. But in September 1987, in view of the economical problems those countries had to face, the WHO regional committee adopted the "Bainako's Initiative" resolution. This meant that from then on everybody was to pay for their health expenses. The purpose of this prospective study which was conducted from March 1, 1996 to February 28, 1999 among 316 patients was to assess hospitalization charges incurred for patients in the Neurology Department of Lomé Teaching Hospital with a view to improve the quality of the services provided and the accessibility of care. A questionnaire was used and every expense relating to the hospitalization of each patient was recorded on a daily basis. The average cost is 389,586 (48,485 FCFA for an average stay of 19.7 (2.5 days. This average cost is 19 times the minimal monthly salary of a state employee. It can be broken down as follows: Accommodation costs represent 52%, medical acts and tests 20.3% while drug costs amount to 21.2% and accompanist expenses represent 6.5%. The average cost of HIV-infected patients is 635,017 (190,624 FCFA for an average stay of 57 (12.9 days. The average cost of HIV-negative patients is 257,354 (12,837 FCFA for an average stay of 24.4 (1.8 days. To improve the quality of the services and the accessibility of care, it is necessary to prescribe and make drugs available in their generic form. After a few days in hospital, some disabling diseases as strokes, myelopathy and myopathy should be treated at home to reduce the length of stay in hospital or in cheaper places such as prolonged accommodation centres.     

Practical Innovations: Technology-Assisted Referrals

Patients in the acute care setting often require referrals for post-hospital care. Before 2003, charts were copied manually and faxed to each nursing home separately, which was labor intensive, created delays, depended on legible notes, and did not ensure patient confidentiality. Social workers at our institution, in collaboration with 21 area nursing homes, successfully developed a program to streamline this process by using the electronic medical record and computer-assisted faxing. The patient's medical record (history/physical, nursing notes, pharmacy record, and therapy notes) was able to be transmitted quickly. This technology-assisted referral system had positive and successful outcomes, such as decreased length of stay, which resulted in an estimated cost savings of $2,008,512 per year.     

Home care before and after hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction in Alberta, Canada

Home care services are provided to about 10% of those admitted to hospital for acute myocardial infarction and about 20% of those discharged from hospital. The use of home care in patients with an acute myocardial infarction is growing in Alberta over the brief time span of this four year study. Those that received home care prior to a hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction were "old and frail" with a high mortality rate during and after hospitalization. The provision of home care after hospitalization selected those patients that stay in hospital longer and required more hospital care. BACKGROUND: The use of home care before and after hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction is described. METHODS: Hospital discharge abstracts were used to identify patients hospitalized in alberta, canada for acute myocardial infarction which were then linked to home care administrative data. RESULTS: There were 12,648 patients with acute myocardial infarction from April 1, 1995 until March 31, 1999. Home care within 60 days prior to hospitalization was provided for 8.7% of patients with acute myocardial infarctions (n = 1097) which significantly (p = 0.023) increased from 7.6% in the fiscal year 1995/6 to 9.5% in the fiscal year 1998/9. Home care within 60 days after hospitalization was provided to 16.4% of patients with acute myocardial infarctions (n = 2076) which significantly (p < 0.000) increased from 14.1% in the fiscal year 1995/6 to 18.1% in fiscal year 1998/9. Recipients of home care were significantly older, had more comorbidities, and greater severity of illness, but were less likely to undergo coronary artery revascularization during hospitalization. After multivariate adjustment, length of hospital stay, 60 day re-admissions, and mortality were higher in those receiving home care post hospitalization. Nearly half of those receiving home care prior to hospitalization died within one year. 80% of those receiving home care prior to admission also received home care services after hospitalization. CONCLUSION: Those patients who received home care prior to a hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction were "old and frail" with a high mortality rate during and after hospitalization. The provision of home care after hospitalization selected those patients that stay in hospital longer and required more hospital care.     

Teaching status and resource use for patients with acute myocardial infarction: a new look at the indirect costs of graduate medical education.

To investigate whether the process of graduate medical education increases costs in teaching hospitals by causing longer lengths of stay and greater resource use, we compared lengths of stay, hospital charges, and the use of cardiovascular procedures for patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to the teaching and nonteaching services of a university-affiliated community hospital. After adjusting for severity of illness and demographic characteristics, patients on the teaching services had a mean length of stay that was shorter by 0.6 days (p = 0.04) and mean charges that were $2,060 lower (p = 0.15) than for patients on the nonteaching service. Patients on the teaching service also had 15 percent (95% CI: -26, -4) fewer cardiac catheterizations and 9 percent (-18, 0) fewer procedures for myocardial revascularization (angioplasty or cardiac bypass surgery). These findings suggest that graduate medical education per se may not directly increase the use of health care resources and that the cost differences between teaching and nonteaching hospitals may be largely a consequence of other factors. These factors may include epiphenomena of teaching such as a specialized organizational structure, specialized patient care services, and continuing medical education for the nursing and medical staffs. They may also include factors not related to teaching such as differences in patients' severity of illness and sociodemographic characteristics.     

Accessibility, continuity and appropriateness: key elements in assessing integration of perinatal services

A trend toward the reduction in the length of hospital stays has been widely observed. This increasing shift is particularly evident in perinatal care. A stay of less than 48 hours after delivery has been shown to have no negative effects on the health of either the mother or the baby as long as they receive an adequate follow‐up. This implies a close integration between hospital and community health services. The present article addresses the following questions: To what extent are postnatal services accessible to mothers and neonates? Are postnatal services in the community in continuity with those of the hospital? Are the services provided by the appropriate source of care? The authors conducted a telephone survey among 1158 mothers in a large urban area in the province of Quebec, Canada. The results were compared to clinical guidelines widely recognised by professionals. The results show serious discrepancies with these guidelines. The authors found a low accessibility to services: less than half of the mothers received a home visit by a nurse. In terms of continuity of care, less than 10% of the mothers received a follow‐up telephone call within the recommended time frame and only 18% benefited from a home visit within the recommended period. Finally, despite guidelines to the contrary, hospitals continue to intervene after discharge. This results in a duplication of services for 44.7% of the new‐borns. On the other hand, 40.7% are not seen in the recommended period after hospital discharge at all. These results raise concerns about the integration of services between agencies. Following earlier work, the present authors have grouped explanatory factors under four dimensions: the strategic dimension, particularly leadership; the structural dimension, including the size of the network; the technological dimension, with respect to information transmission system; and the cultural dimension, which concerns the collaboration process and the development of relationships based on trust.     

Cost of Hospital-Acquired Infection

The authors assessed the costs of hospital-acquired infections using rigorous econometric methods on publicly available data, controlling for the interdependency of length of stay and the incidence of hospital acquired infection, and estimated the cost shares of different payers. They developed a system of equations involving length of stay, incidence of infection, and the total hospital care cost to be estimated using simultaneous equations system. The main data came from the State of New Jersey UB 92 for 2004, complimented with data from the Annual Survey of Hospitals by the American Hospital Association and the Medicare Cost Report of 2004. The authors estimated that an incidence of hospital acquired infection increases the hospital care cost of a patient by $10,375 and it increases the length of stay by 3.30 days, and that a disproportionately higher portion of the cost is attributable to Medicare. They conclude that reliable cost estimates of hospital-acquired infections can be made using publicly available data. Their estimate shows a much larger aggregate cost of $16.6 billion as opposed to $5 billion reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but much less than $29 billion as reported elsewhere in the literature.     

Multidisciplinary patient management by means of a high social risk screening tool

OBJECTIVE: The long-term goal in this study was for the Memorial Hospital of Salem County, Inc (MHSC), to create a seamless system of continuity of care for patients. This continuity of care begins before patients require acute admission through the hospital course and extends beyond discharge and into the post-hospital setting or alternate care situation. DESIGN: In a retrospective study in 1993, through the first 6 months of 1994, it was discovered that MHSC patients experienced a longer-than-average Medicare length of stay than was seen in other hospitals. MHSC embarked on a program to reduce discharge planning request time to the social work and home care departments by using a patient screening system that began at the time of admission. The nursing, social work, and home care departments collaboratively designed a system that allowed for immediate transfer of vital discharge planning information to the social work and home care departments at the time of the patient's admission. A tool was jointly developed called the multidisciplinary patient management record. RESULTS: The benefits of this process far exceeded the cost of implementing the tool. The average skilled nursing facility length of stay decreased below the national average by almost one full day. Patients experienced earlier access to social service intervention: discharge planning needs were identified more accurately; and the social services and home care departments' productivity rose because they could anticipate problems before a crisis arose. CONCLUSIONS: Critical to the success of this overall effort was not designing the new tool, but integrating the tool into a reengineered multidisciplinary patient management process.     

Penny wise, pound wise: a comparison of Medicaid expenditures for home and community-based services versus nursing facility care for older adults

Kansas Medicaid offers home and community-based services through the Frail and Elderly (FE) program as an alternative for older adults who are eligible for nursing home (NH) care but wish to stay in the community. We determined demographic and clinical characteristics of enrollees receiving FE or NH services, examined their relative health care utilization patterns, and estimated the difference in Medicaid's expenditures for FE versus NH care. After adjusting for key demographic and clinical variables, mean monthly expenditures were $1,281 lower for the FE cohort. Since NH and FE populations are dissimilar, these care options may not be easily interchangeable at the individual level.