HQP's Model is Vital to MedicareImproving our nation's health insurance is important, but it doesn't begin to address the problems with our care delivery system that are driving up costs and resulting in poor outcomes. With Medicare hurtling toward insolvency and preventable complications of chronic illness rampant, HQP's model of community-based nurse care management represents a breakthrough that can help address these root causes - right now. Evaluators for the Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration (MCCD) report that among a group of high-risk beneficiaries followed over several years, the HQP program reduced hospitalizations 24% (p=0.005) and lowered hospital costs $255 per person PER MONTH (more than $3,000 per person per year). [1] The policy implications for Medicare are significant since 18.1% of ALL Medicare beneficiaries nationwide in 2003 were members of this risk group. In another report by the same analysts, HQP's model was found to have significant cost savings across a wide variety of higher-risk groups and was the only MCCD program that significantly reduced deaths (p=0.036). [2] More results will be published soon about the positive impact HQP's program has on health outcomes, but the opportunity for Medicare to address significant root causes of high cost and poor quality among chronically ill older adults using HQP's program is already clear.
[1] http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/121609.brown.pdf (active as or 1/15/2010) [2] Analyses of the Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration for the Medicare Chronic Care Practice Research Network (MCCPRN), Report June 24, 2009, Deborah Peikes, Greg Peterson, Randall Brown; Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
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