Three times less likely to die; the plan revolutionising health care
DEATH rates are three times lower in patients taking part in a revolutionary program that appoints a care co-ordinator to navigate the health system.
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DEATH rates are three times lower in patients taking part in a revolutionary health fund program that appoints a care co-ordinator to help people navigate the health system.
Chronically ill patients have been saved from medication overdoses and had undiagnosed illnesses identified by carers who visit patients in their own homes.
Health fund Medibank which has spent $30 million on the Care Complete program says preliminary results show the 859 people enrolled in the program had a life expectancy three times longer than people with similar conditions not taking part in the trial.
There were also reductions in preventable hospital admissions, falls, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failures and diabetes.
In the preventive health arm of the program, patients increased their exercise from 129 to 200 minutes on average per week, reduced their waist circumference and saw their blood pressure improve from high-normal to normal range.
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It’s the type of care the Federal Government has been promising to deliver under its Health Care Homes model but trials of the government scheme have been delayed as GPs wrangle over how much they will be paid.
Under Medibanks’s Care Complete program GP practices are paid to participate and they nominate complex and chronically ill patients to take part in the program, even if they are not health fund members.
Medibank funds a Care Coordinator to help manage patients’ care needs and organises home nursing, community care, exercise classes, physiotherapy, home modifications and emergency health alarms.
A call centre helps patients navigate medical appointments and transport to them.
Other arms of the program deliver lifestyle counselling to improve self management, of health problems, motivation and adherence to plans
A 24/7 nurse hotline provides after hours support for questions and advice.
The program also helps patients manage the transition period after they are discharged from hospital.
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Over half of all Australians have a chronic condition like arthritis, cancer, heart disease and depression, and more than 40 per cent of those aged over 45 have at least two problems.
Medibank calculated that these conditions were costing the fund more than $600 million a year.
And the sickest two per cent of these members are responsible for a shocking 35.2 per cent of the fund’s hospital and medical claims.
Arthritis is the most costly chronic condition for the fund with hip and knee replacements costing Medibank more than $270 million in the year to June 2014, twice as much as patients with heart disease.
The fund paid out on average around $9500 for each falls-related hospital admission of its members in the 2015 financial year.
Medibank spokesman Dr Andrew Wilson says he was proud that “in the four years we’ve worked with GPs to build Care Complete it’s already saving the lives of chronically ill Australians”.
“But we’ve also seen that without adequate support to find their way through the health system people can fall through the cracks.
“We talk a lot in Australia about the significant cost of delivering healthcare. I think we need to flip that on its head. Instead we should be asking ourselves about the cost of letting chronic disease worsen,” he said.
“Intervening and providing support early on — even if it means spending more initially — is better for everyone in the long run. Investing in healthier Australians is money well spent.”
Melbourne’s Fay Burns had her knee replacement surgery brought forward after she was enrolled in the Care Complete program.
The 79-year-old is not even a Medibank member but she was nominated for the program by her doctor.
Fay has had three hip replacements, multiple fractures, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, pain and osteoporosis and the program has funded podiatry and physiotherapy, hydrotherapy consultations.
“It’s having someone on your side, I know if I had any problems doing things Alison (her care worker) helps me,” says Fay.
Fay says her broken knee has meant she had to give up hydrotherapy, and she has had to cut out regular walks with her friends.
She hopes to be able to get back to these activities now her knee surgery has been brought forward as a result of the program.
Originally published as Three times less likely to die; the plan revolutionising health care
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