Economic evaluation of the differential benefits of home visits with telephone calls and telephone calls only in transitional discharge support.

ABSTRACT:

Background

home visits and telephone calls are two often used approaches in transitional care, but their differential economic effects are unknown.

Objective

to examine the differential economic benefits of home visits with telephone calls and telephone calls only in transitional discharge support.

Design

cost-effectiveness analysis conducted alongside a randomised controlled trial (RCT).

Participants

patients discharged from medical units randomly assigned to control (control, N = 210), home visits with calls (home, N = 196) and calls only (call, N = 204).

Methods

cost-effectiveness analyses were conducted from the societal perspective comparing monetary benefits and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained.

Results

the home arm was less costly

SUBMITTER: Wong FK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4255617 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature