According to a study published in a recent issue of Health Affairs, creating specialized units for the elderly with acute medical illness may reduce national healthcare costs by up to $6 billion annually. Researchers at the University of California , San Francisco
Researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial of 1,632 elderly patients seen in either the ACE program or a traditional inpatient hospital setting between 1993 and 1997. Major findings include a shorter average length of stay for ACE patients of 6.7 days versus 7.3 days and an average savings of $974 per ACE patient. Applying these savings nationally may result in a 1% savings, or $6 billion, of all Medicare expenditures each year.
The ACE program creates an interdisciplinary team specializing in elder care. While the clinical staff to patient ratios are similar to traditional hospital units, patients are assessed daily by the team and nurses’ accountability and level of independence is increased. Researchers note certain barriers to implementing ACE on a larger scale, including the ability of clinicians to change work cultures and adjust schedules to meet and discuss patients. In addition, ACE programs are not beneficial in small, rural hospitals.
