Adapting acute care to focus on “whole-patient wellness and prevention” within population management can lead to significant reductions in hospital readmissions and emergency room (ER) visits thanks in part to home visits, according to a recent pilot study.
Miami-based disease prevention and wellness company EliteHealth conducted a pilot study in Miami over a six-month period with 1,500 patients. The study, dubbed the “Senior VIP” wellness program, focused on a risk-management incentive structure that rewarded patient quality outcomes through a population health management platform.
The pilot provided on-site diagnostic testing, preventative screenings and on-site multi-specialty doctors. The program focused on the frequency of patient touch-points at home and in a clinical setting by extending services into the home, including meal delivery, home tele-monitoring, artificial intelligence, medication review and medical staff home visits.
Over six months, the pilot decreased patient readmissions by 50%. There was also a 50% decrease in admissions per 1,000 patients; a 50% decrease in re-admits; a 30% reduction in ER visits; and a 20% decrease in prescriptions per member.
“We’re witnessing a trend toward patients receiving care where they want to be most: their home,” Cheri Rodgers, COO for One Home Care Solutions, LLC, said in a statement.
EliteHealth currently operates five primary care centers in Dade and Broward country, Florida, with two new locations opening up in Sarasota and Venice Beach, Florida. The program aims to represent a “fundamental change in addressing senior health” by merging the whole-patient approach into a social setting, which enables caregivers to engage patients’ emotional, intellectual and physical needs throughout the continuum of care.
“If the medical industry continues to focus on ‘acute care,’ there won’t be enough hospital beds,” EliteHealth CEO Steven Schnur said in a statement. “Without a fundamental change in treatment strategy, this population will eat up already scarce Medicare resources.
Seniors currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage are eligible to participate in EliteHealth’s Senior VIP program at no cost.
EliteHealth did not respond to inquiries from Home Health Care News as
Written by Amy Baxter
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