A workplace health education program that reduces outpatient visits.
A workplace health education program aimed at reducing unnecessary outpatient visits was offered through 22 California employers. A total of 5,200 employees attended a presentation, received self-help books, and completed self-administered questionnaires. All visits for their households were monitored for up to 15 months. The study utilized a quasi-experimental staggered intervention design involving eight different cohorts, before/after comparisons, with statistical adjustment for seasonality and other intervening variables. Visit rates for households insured only by Blue Cross of California were reduced by 17% (P = 0.001), or 2.0 visits per household per year. For all participants, the reduction was 7.2% (P = 0.06), or 0.8 visits. Reductions were seen for all age and educational strata. The program was most effective among households with first dollar fee-for-service insurance coverage. Households with insurance requiring co-payments had less reduction. No reduction was seen among health maintenance organization (HMO) members. The study concludes that a minimal cost, self-care workplace intervention can reduce outpatient visits by important magnitudes.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D054598:Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance Plans; D002140:California; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009786:Occupational Health Services; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012648:Self Care; D013223:Statistics as Topic