Home-based intermediate care program vs hospitalization: Cost comparison study.
OBJECTIVE
To explore whether a home-based intermediate care program in a large Canadian city lowers the cost of care and to look at whether such home-based programs could be a solution to the increasing demands on Canadian hospitals.


METHODS
Single-arm study with historical controls.


METHODS
Department of Family Medicine at the Ottawa Hospital (Civic campus) in Ontario.


METHODS
Patients requiring hospitalization for acute care. Participants were matched with historical controls based on case-mix, most responsible diagnosis, and level of complexity.


METHODS
Placement in the home-based intermediate care program. Daily home visits from the nurse practitioner and 24-hour access to care by telephone.


METHODS
Multivariate regression models were used to estimate the effect of the program on 5 outcomes: length of stay in hospital, cost of care substituted for hospitalization (Canadian dollars), readmission for a related diagnosis, readmission for any diagnosis, and costs incurred by community home-care services for patients following discharge from hospital.


RESULTS
The outcomes of 43 hospital admissions were matched with those of 363 controls. Patients enrolled in the program stayed longer in hospital (coefficient 3.3 days, P < .001), used more community care services following discharge (coefficient $729, P = .007), and were more likely to be readmitted to hospital within 3 months of discharge (coefficient 17%, P = .012) than patients treated in hospital. Total substituted costs of home-based care were not significantly different from the costs of hospitalization (coefficient -$501, P = .11).


CONCLUSIONS
While estimated cost savings were not statistically significant, the limitations of our study suggest that we underestimated these savings. In particular, the economic inefficiencies of a small immature program and the inability to control for certain factors when selecting historical controls affected our results. Further research is needed to determine the economic effect of mature home-based programs.
Armstrong
Catherine Deri
CD
Department of Economics at the University of Ottawa in Ontario.
Hogg
William E
WE
Lemelin
Jacques
J
Dahrouge
Simone
S
Martin
Carmel
C
Viner
Gary S
GS
Saginur
Raphael
R
D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000628:therapy*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000191:economics*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009864:Ontario; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014505:Urban Population