Healthcare resource use in patients of the Australian Transition Care Program.

Conclusions Although the cost of the TCP is relatively high, it may have some impact on reducing hospital re-admissions and preventing or delaying residential care admissions. What is known about the topic? A majority of healthcare costs occur in older age. What does this paper add? Hospital costs, both initial and re-admissions, are the major contributor to healthcare costs in transition care recipients. Orthopaedic conditions are the most expensive to treat and neurological conditions are the most variable. What are the implications for practitioners? Reducing the length of hospitalisation and reducing re-admissions for older frail people is a key economic concern for health services. Services such as the TCP aim to do both; however, the evidence that this is effective is limited. Streamlining referrals to transition care to enable earlier access and involving the transition care provider in re-admission decisions may help reduce healthcare costs in future.
PMID: 25817733 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Australian Health Review - March 30, 2015 Category: Hospital Management Authors: Comans TA, Peel NM, Cameron ID, Gray L, Scuffham PA Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research