4 Ways to Reduce Costs Associated with Patient Care

Health care costs, including the cost of patient care, have been increasing and reached astounding levels. Consider these facts:

Average costs per inpatient stay nationwide:

• State/local government hospitals — $1,878
• Nonprofit hospitals — $2,289
• For-profit hospitals — $1,791

The cost of patient care is an area of critical focus for health care facilities across the United States. As 2016 comes to a close and 2017 goals are defined, it is important to outline specific ways that the cost of patient care can be decreased to help control health care spending. Following are four areas of focus to reduce the cost of patient care:

Early Detection

The costs of proactively treating a healthy patient and identifying risk factors early on is much less than waiting for health issues to escalate and treating them then. Health risk assessments can be used as a means for early detection. Most conditions have better outcomes the earlier they are detected, resulting in less intensive treatment and reduced complications.

Accomplish the Initiative

To help with early detection and health care delivery cost reduction, health systems, hospitals, health plans and benefit-providing employers can utilize the GoMo Health Concierge Care® Community Screenings solution. Securely collecting patient-specific data creates opportunities for ongoing engagement and condition management by sending prompts, tips, and reminders to ensure patients stay on top of their personal health and wellness. By doing so, we create a pathway for increased interaction between providers and patients.

Learn more about GoMo Health Concierge Care® Community Screenings

Reduce Readmissions

According to the Center for Health Care Quality & Payment Reform, studies show that 15-25% of people who are discharged from hospitals are readmitted within 30 days. Preventable readmissions are an unnecessary expense, accounting for more than $17 billion in Medicare expenditures every year.

Accomplish the Initiative

Health care organizations can take a multi-pronged approach to reduce readmission rates. By consistently and proactively communicating with patients regarding general health and wellness needs, during their hospital stay, and as they transition home, the need for a return trip to the hospital is greatly reduced. The GoMo Health Concierge Care® solution improves patient acquisition, retention and outcomes and is a proven tool for communication on all three fronts.

Learn more about GoMo Health Concierge Care®.

Increase Operational Efficiency

Operational efficiencies can be improved within the hospital to ensure that patients’ non-clinical needs are being fulfilled and their satisfaction increased. Rather than filtering food service, housekeeping and environmental services requests through the nurse call button to the ultimate servicing department, hospitals are beginning to change their workflows, directing them to the departments that provide those services.  This not only eliminates the “telephone game” of processing requests through the nurse call button to the ultimate servicing department, but allows nurses to focus on the clinical care they were trained and want to provide.

Accomplish the Initiative

By empowering patients with the ability to make non-clinical requests directly and through their own mobile devices, a time consuming and costly step is removed from the service delivery process within the hospital. GoMo Health Concierge Care® solutions offload clinical staff from fulfilling non-clinical patient requests – allowing them to focus on direct patient care and increasing their Joy in Practice.

Learn more about GoMo Health Concierge Care® Inpatient Satisfaction.

Focus on Communication and Transition

Leveraging the proper remote care coordination and communication resources allows patients to seamlessly transition between their health care providers, hospital, rehabilitation or skilled nursing facility and daily life post-discharge.

Dedicating time for proper care coordination and patient self-management before and after a medical procedure can reduce patient care costs by streamlining the process and reducing the risk of miscommunication. Setting pre-admission expectations about length of stay and providing appropriate transitional care resources is a cost-effective and reimbursable method to reduce cost.

Accomplish the Initiative

Through the GoMo Health Concierge Care® Transition Support solution, customers are empowered with remote care management tools, enabling them to make positive health and wellness decisions via “in-the-moment” engagement. This succeeds by extending your reach and actively involving patients in their continuum of care.

Learn more about GoMo Health Concierge Care® Transition Support.