title: "Low-tech" personal emergency response systems reduce costs and improve outcomes.
abstract: A relatively inexpensive low-technology solution can be used by managed care organizations (MCOs) to improve outcomes and significantly reduce health care costs among community-residing elderly patients. Clinical studies indicate that usage of monitored Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) reduce mortality rates by nearly four times, reduce hospital utilization by 59 percent, and yield a positive benefit-to-cost ratio of over seven to one (every dollar spent on PERS results in $7.19 in health care cost savings).
authors.affiliation: Knoxville, Tennessee-based SecureAlert, LLC, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernstein
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D003363:Cost Control; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004631:Emergency Medical Service Communication Systems; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012637:Security Measures