Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Tell Me this isn't related to Obamacare: Paramedics branch into home care

Patients of a certain age might remember a time when they didn’t have to leave home to receive basic medical care, like treatment for a fever or cough, and emergency rooms were places to go only in the event of an actual emergency. 
Several Massachusetts ambulance companies hope to bring back that quaint concept from long ago by branching into home health care. They plan to send paramedics to treat patients where they live instead of taking them to hospitals, a fundamental shift in how emergency medical services are delivered.
The idea is to expand the paramedic’s role to a provider who not only responds to emergencies but also helps prevent them, treating patients with infections, minor wounds, injuries from falls, and problems associated with chronic diseases like diabetes and congestive heart failure. It could reduce unnecessary emergency room visits and hospital stays, which can cost thousands of dollars.
“We really do believe this is the new house call of the future,” said George Gilpin, chief executive of the Dorchester ambulance service EasCare LLC. 
EasCare is poised to become one of the first ambulance companies in the state to provide such home care, launching a pilot program this summer with 2,000 patients of Commonwealth Care Alliance, a Greater Boston network of providers that serves the elderly, poor, and disabled. The program is expected to get approval from the state Department of Public Health soon. Several other ambulance companies are also seeking permission to offer home care services.
The move toward paramedicine, or integrated mobile health care, comes in response to state and federal laws — including the Affordable Care Act — that are pressuring the health care industry to control costs. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that insures the elderly and the poor, last year imposed penalties of $227 million on hospitals with high rates of patient readmission, down from $280 million in 2012. 
Private insurers, also aiming to keep costs down, increasingly offer incentives to providers for keeping patients out of the hospital when possible. (emphasis mine)
Read the rest of the Story HERE.

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