Geriatric Emergency Care Experiences Lower Medicare Expenditures by Hannah Joy on March 1, 2021 at 9:35 PM
Total cost in geriatric emergency care has been reduced, reveals a new study. More than 20 million elderly visit the emergency departments every year in the U.S.
Roughly one third of those patients are admitted to the hospital often because they cannot be safely discharged to their home.
For an older patient, hospitalization comes with the increased risk of infection, falls, delirium, functional decline and death. Hospitalizations also come with increased cost to the patient, provider and payer. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the average cost of an inpatient hospital stay is more than $13,800 per Medicare beneficiary.
As the US population ages, more hospitals are implementing geriatric emergency department (GED) programs with specialized staff focused on transitional care for older adults aimed at reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and improving outcomes for this vulnerable patient population. A new study finds that providing specialized geriatric emergency care results in lower Medicare expenditures up to $3,200 per beneficiary.