Cross-Continuum Tool Is Associated with Reduced Utilization and Cost for Frequent High-Need Users

INTRODUCTION: High-need, high-cost (HNHC) patients can over-use acute care services, a pattern of behavior associated with many poor outcomes that disproportionately contributes to increased U.S. healthcare cost. Our objective was to reduce healthcare cost and improve outcomes by optimizing the system of care. We targeted HNHC patients and identified root causes of frequent healthcare utilization. We developed a cross-continuum intervention process and a succinct tool called a Complex Care Map (CCM)© that addresses fragmentation in the system and links providers to a comprehensive individualized analysis of the patient story and causes for frequent access to health services. METHODS: Using a pre-/post-test design in which each subject served as his/her own historical control, this quality improvement project focused on determining if the interdisciplinary intervention called CCM© had an impact on healthcare utilization and costs for HNHC patients. We conducted the analysis between November 2012 and December 2015 at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s, a Midwestern urban hospital with greater than 80,000 annual emergency department (ED) visits. All referred patients with three or more hospital visits (ED or inpatient [IP]) in the 12 months prior to initiation of a CCM© (n=339) were included in the study. Individualized CCMs© were created and made available in the electronic medical record (EMR) to all healthcare providers. We compared utilization, cost, social, and healthcare access variables from the EMR and cost-accounting system for 12 months before and after CCMs© implementation. We used both descriptive and limited inferential statistics. RESULTS: ED mean visits decreased 43% (p<0.001), inpatient mean admissions decreased 44% (p<0.001), outpatient mean visits decreased 17% (p<0.001), computed tomography mean scans decreased 62% (p<0.001), and OBS/IP length of stay mean days decreased 41% (p<0.001). Gross charges decreased 45% (p<0.001), direct expenses decreased 47% (p<0.001), contribution margin improved by 11% (p=0.002), and operating margin improved by 73% (p<0.001). Patients with housing increased 14% (p<0.001), those with primary care increased 15% (p<0.001), and those with insurance increased 16% (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Individualized CCMs© for a select group of patients are associated with decreased healthcare system overutilization and cost of care.