1. A process to reduce hospital admissions in the OCM population through focused intervention of super-utilizers
- Author
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Joanne Lalanne, Scott Hines, Allison Whalen, Manuel Perry, Shannon Shah, and Katie Rudy-Tomczak
- Subjects
Cancer Research ,education.field_of_study ,Oncology ,business.industry ,Process (engineering) ,Intervention (counseling) ,Health care ,Population ,medicine ,Medical emergency ,medicine.disease ,business ,education - Abstract
6505 Background: A small number of patients (super-utilizers) are responsible for much of the cost in healthcare. In several studies, 5% of patients are responsible for 50% of the cost. Healthcare hot-spotting is the strategic use of data to deliver enhanced resources to selected super-utilizers in an effort to improve the quality of care and to reduce costs. Methods: Patients enrolled in the Oncology Care Model (OCM) who were scheduled to receive cytotoxic, targeted therapy or immunotherapy beginning in the fall of 2017 were screened by nurse practitioners prior to initiating treatment in an effort to identify super-utilizers. Risk factors included high risk disease (stem cell transplant, myelodysplastic syndrome, acute leukemia, stage IV disease), significant co-morbidities (CHF, COPD, renal failure, Insulin Dependent Diabetes , presence of a gastrostomy tube), or an admission to the hospital in the past 6 months. Such patients were provided with enhanced services which included twice weekly outreach by a nurse practitioner between 8am and 10am for a telephonic evaluation of their health status. If the patient was found to have either a new problem that required intervention or a worsening chronic problem, then a same-day appointment was made with the nurse practitioner, oncologist, primary care provider or appropriate specialist. Results: Inpatient admissions decreased from 21.3 per 100 OCM beneficiaries to 18.7 per 100 OCM beneficiaries representing a 12.2% decrease. Inpatient costs were reduced from $979 per beneficiary per month (PBPM) to $885 PBPM representing a decrease of $94 PBPM (9.6% decrease). Conclusions: Targeting oncology super-utilizers based on the nature of their diagnosis, co-morbidities, or history of a recent hospital admission and offering telephonic evaluation reduced hospitalizations and decreased cost resulting in a savings of nearly $600,000 per year for our OCM cohort of 600 beneficiaries. [Table: see text]
- Published
- 2019