Patient education cuts costs
Patient education cuts costs
A pilot project to educate people on how to care for themselves and how to decide when to visit a doctor is working, according to early results of the study.
One of three people surveyed in one study reported refraining from unnecessary visits to physician offices or hospital emergency departments. Donald W. Kemper, president of Healthwise, which is conducting the Healthwise Communities Project centered around Boise, ID, says this could save over $2 million a year in health care costs.
The project, funded in part by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, NJ, is an effort to improve the health care system by reinventing the patient.
The project gives the Healthwise Handbook, a self-care guide, to 125,000 Idaho households (278,000 individuals). It also offers a toll-free nurse consultation phone service, self-care workshops, and Internet or PC access to the Healthwise Knowledgebase, an electronic health information resource.
According to a random sample survey of 598 households, conducted by Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland, 69% of those who received the Healthwise Handbook had used it at least once.
A separate study looked at the project’s impact on a random sample of 610 employees from thirteen local corporations.
The study, conducted by Conrad Colby, PhD, an independent researcher in Boise, confirmed the OHSU book receipt and use rates. Of those who received the book, 38.5% reported the handbook helped them avoid one or more visits to the doctor, and 9% reported the book helped them avoid one or more visits to an emergency department.
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