Continuity and the costs of care for chronic disease.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Better continuity of care is expected to improve patient outcomes and reduce health care costs, but patterns of use, costs, and clinical complications associated with the current patterns of care continuity have not been quantified.

Objective

To measure the association between care continuity, costs, and rates of hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and complications for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic disease.

Design, setting, and participants

Retrospective cohort study of insurance claims data for a 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries experiencing a 12-month episode of care for congestive heart failure (CHF, n = 53,488), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, n = 76,520), or type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM, n = 166,654) in 2008 and 2009.<

SUBMITTER: Hussey PS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4075052 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature