Affordable Care Act Program Shows Reduced Medical Costs Through House Calls
The Affordable Care Act funded the Shared Savings Program which financially rewards health care organizations for reaching targets for patient care, such as reductions in hospital re-admissions, and thereby reduces plan costs. One of the most compelling projects from this pay-for-performance program has been a resurgence in house calls by doctors to vulnerable Medicare patients. The Wall Street Journal recently featured an article on this phenomena and found the "Independence at Home" Medicare demonstration project has shown a 25 million dollar savings for Medicare in the first year of the program. (1) This article reveals more about how this program works, who participates, and what it might mean for health care plans. Here are the creative health care organizations which elected to participate in this three year initiative (sans the LLC, Inc, or other corporate modifiers): Boston Medical Center, Christiana Health Care Services, Cleveland Clinic Home Care Services, Comprehen...