title: Creating a wellness program/safety net for the medically complex and frail patient.
abstract: There is a small subgroup of Medicare and Medicaid patients (2%-4%) who have complex illnesses, frailties, and often disabilities. The medical problems of these patients are characterized by multiple diagnoses, complex medication routines, frequent hospitalizations, many physicians and physician visits, impairment of activities of daily life (including cognitive disabilities), and reliance on a caregiver for support and keeping them in the community. The cost of their care increases year after year averaging $40,000 per year. Strongly associated with these multiple problems is isolation and often depression, which compounds their medical problems resulting in nonadherence to their prescribed medical regimes which might otherwise keep them out of the hospital. This article describes a new approach to providing both a wellness program and medical safety net for this unstable population.
authors.affiliation: Enhanced Care Initiatives, Inc, Shelton, CT 06484, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chess
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krentzman
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Charde
mesh_terms: D019090:Case Management; D015897:Comorbidity; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000191:economics; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008484:Medicaid; D006278:Medicare; D016730:Program Development; D014481:United States