Population health management
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Hospital readmissions in the Medicare population may be related to a number of factors, including reoccurrence of illness, failure to understand or follow physician direction, or lack of follow-up care, among others. These readmissions significantly increase cost and utilization in this population, and are expected to increase with the projected growth in Medicare enrollment. The authors examined whether a postdischarge telephonic intervention for patients reduced 30-day hospital readmissions as compared to a matched control population. ⋯ Furthermore, although emergency room visits were reduced in the intervention group as compared to controls (8.1% vs. 9.4%, P<0.0001), physician office visits increased (76.5% vs. 72.3%, P<0.0001), suggesting the intervention may have encouraged members to seek assistance leading to avoidance of readmission. As a group, overall cost savings were $499,458 for members who received the intervention, with $13,964,773 in savings to the health care plan. Support for patients after hospital discharge clearly affected hospital readmission and associated costs and warrants further development.
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In 2014, the Affordable Care Act will create an estimated 16 million newly insured people. Coupled with an estimated shortage of over 60,000 primary care physicians, the country's public health care system will be at a challenging crossroads, as there will be more patients waiting to see fewer doctors. Nurse practitioners (NPs) can help to ease this crisis. ⋯ Although this represents progress over prior assessments, findings suggest that just over one fourth of major HMOs still do not recognize NPs as primary care providers. Given the documented shortage of primary care physicians in low-income communities in the United States, these credentialing policies continue to diminish the ability of NPs to deliver primary care to vulnerable populations. Furthermore, these policies could negatively impact access to care for thousands of newly insured Americans who will be seeking a primary care provider in 2014.