Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy reposted this
In their new Forefront article, Christine Ritchie, Bruce Leff, Orla Sheehan, Montgomery Smith, and Frank McStay from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy discuss how understanding the needs of high-need, high-cost community-based beneficiaries, including homebound status, will help Medicare Advantage organizations align their provision of health services with the needs of those who are homebound. "Homebound Medicare beneficiaries, those who generally cannot leave their homes or have difficulty or require assistance to get out of their homes, is a population that warrants careful attention as CMS aims to achieve its accountable care goals and continues to invest in advanced community-focused models that emphasize prevention. Although many recognize that approximately 20 percent of Medicare beneficiaries drive 80 percent of costs, what is less well-recognized is that only about 5 to 10 percent of Medicare costs are preventable and half of preventable costs are from avoidable hospitalizations for frail older adults, emphasizing the importance of longitudinal relationships with providers to improve management of patients with multiple chronic conditions, functional impairments, and social challenges. Many of these patients are homebound, yet payment models have yet to fully recognize the opportunity to improve their care delivery into the home setting." Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/46GmA9u