Hospitals are trying a new business model, treating patients at home

That is true, with the cost of health care per patient is rising with no end in sight, hospitals are now turning towards home care to help reduce cost. A recent article in the Kaiser Health News network reported “More than 13 percent of all federal spending goes toward Medicare. Two thirds of that spending goes to the sickest 20 percent of Medicare beneficiaries, the ones with multiple chronic health conditions” (Schultz, 2012). These statistics are staggering, health care in the United States cannot continue down this path without any intervention.  With pressure mounting, health care leaders; doctors, hospital administrators, and researchers came up with a solution to rein in cost, by focusing patient care in their own home, hospitals can then reduce their liabilities versus having patient’s being cared for in the hospital.

Dr. Bruce Leff, a geriatrician and health researcher at Johns Hopkins University published a study showing how medical facilities can reduce cost by implementing six models of caring for seniors. The most popular model is called “Nurses Improving Care to Health system Elders, or NICHE, allowing nurses to take on a more proactive role towards focusing on common complications seniors would encounter; catheter infections or delirium. In contrast, another model called “Hospital at Home” did not garner much praise because unfortunately, Medicare does not pay hospitals for taking care of patient’s at their home as of yet, the system of revenue is still filing up hospital beds. Dr. Leff stated “Right now hospitals make money by filling beds, if I go to the hospital president and say, I’ll do a patient’s care at home, and Medicare doesn’t pay for that. It’s hard for them to give up revenue in that way” (Schultz, 2012). The results from his study have shown a reduction in cost and better patient outcomes, if this country is serious about lowering health care cost then all viable options should be utilized and antiquated laws amended, this country cannot afford inaction when there are helpful ideas out there.

Bibliography

Schultz, D. (2012, June 4). To Curb Spending On Elderly, Hospitals Try New Business Models. Retrieved June 5, 2012, from KaiserHeatlhNews: http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/index.php/2012/06/to-curb-spending-on-elderly-hospitals-try-new-business-models/