Health Insurance Daily

Thorough Psychiatric Care Saves Money

Extensive face time with a care provider proved to be instrumental for patients seeking mental health services, new research shows.

Patients who had routine contact with care advocates (the study group) improved their medication compliance by 14.9%, compared to just 2.9% for those without routine contact (the control group), according to a study by CIGNA Behavioral Health.

Psychiatric hospital intakes dropped by 53% in the study group, which resulted in a 49% decrease in cost after individuals enrolled in the program. Conversely, psychiatric admissions jumped by 11% in the control group, which resulted in a 225% cost increase, CIGNA reports. Moreover, the study group showed a 52% decrease in ER visits, and the total health care savings per patient was more than $3,000.

The study group members had behavioral and medical services arranged by care advocates and 24/7 access to help, in case of a crisis event or bad medical side effects.
Jodi Aronson Prohofsky, senior vice president of clinical operations at CIGNA Behavioral Health, says, “Now that we we’ve measured the data, we want to expand the program to reach more members to achieve ever greater outcomes.”

Article provided by Benefitnews.com 4-5-07

posted by Mike @ 8:00 AM