Telemedicine reduced hospitalizations of nursing home patients
Nursing homes that offered telemedicine after hours significantly reduced the hospitalization rate of their patients compared to facilities that did not offer this service, according to a Commonwealth Fund-supported study published in Health Affairs.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School tracked how the introduction of after-hours telemedicine services among Massachusetts nursing homes affected hospitalization rates and spending from October 2009 to September 2011. Six of the 11 facilities were randomly assigned to the intervention group, while the other five served as the control group.
The study found that following implementation of the service, hospitalization rates dropped 9.7 percent among the intervention facilities and 5.3 percent among the comparison facilities, which did not receive the service. Based on this, Medicare could expect to save about $151,000 per nursing home per year on an implementation that costs about $30,000, according to the study.
“Our findings suggest that nursing homes that are more fully engaged in off-hours telemedicine coverage could generate cost savings for Medicare that exceed the facility’s investment in the telemedicine service,” wrote lead author David C. Grabowski, PhD, professor of health care policy, Harvard Medical School, and colleagues.
While the savings were substantial, they generally accrued to Medicare, not to the nursing homes. Thus, study authors concluded that more steps need to be taken to create a strong business case for nursing homes and other providers to invest in this service.
“Future research will be needed to test models that encourage greater engagement on the part of providers, as well as to examine the implications of savings for health outcomes,” wrote Grabowski et al. “If the results of such studies are promising, policy makers could consider reforms that would better align the costs of telemedicine with the potential savings from reduced hospitalizations.”
Access the study here.