Medical care
-
Patients with drug use disorders are heavy users of emergency department (ED) and inpatient hospital care. This study examines whether formal mechanisms to link addiction treatment patients to primary medical care, either directly on site or by off-site referral-when compared with an absence of said mechanisms-might reduce these patients' use of ED and hospital services after substance abuse treatment. ⋯ These findings suggest that for some treatment modalities, stronger primary care linkage mechanisms decrease subsequent utilization of expensive ED and hospital services. Future study should examine the cost implications of these strong linkage mechanisms and ways to strengthen linkages to off-site medical care.
-
Care management processes (CMPs), tools to improve the efficiency and quality of primary care delivery, are particularly important for low-income patients facing substantial barriers to care. ⋯ Physician and provider organizations heavily involved in California's Medicaid program are extensively engaged in preventive and chronic care management programs.