Study Findings on Insurance Are Outlined in Reports from Optum Inc. (Unfulfilled Home Health Referrals Lead To Higher Mortality Among Medicare Advantage Members): Insurance

Health Policy and Law Daily

2024 NOV 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- A new study on Insurance is now available. According to news reporting from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Medicare Advantage (MA) members referred to home health after inpatient hospitalization may or may not receive these services for a variety of member- and health care system-related reasons. Our objective was to compare outcomes among MA members referred to home health following hospitalization who receive home health services vs those who do not.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Optum Inc., “Retrospective quasi-experimental study. Following acute hospitalization, members with discharge orders to receive home health services between January 2021 and October 2022 were identified in a medical claims database consisting of MA beneficiaries. Members who received services within 30 days of discharge were balanced using inverse propensity score weighting on member- and admission-related covariates with a comparator group of members who did not receive services. Primary outcomes included mortality and readmissions in the ensuing 30, 90, and 180 days. Secondary outcomes included emergency department visits, primary care visits, and per-member per-month costs. The home health-treated group consisted of 2115 discharges, and the untreated group consisted of 761 discharges. The treated group experienced lower mortality at 30 days (2% vs 3%, respectively; OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.36-0.92), 90 days (8% vs 10%; OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.60-0.98), and 180 days (11% vs 14%; OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.65-0.99). The treated group also experienced higher readmissions at 30 days (13% vs 10%; OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.01-1.60), 90 days (24% vs 16%; OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.39-2.05), and 180 days (33% vs 24%; OR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.29-1.79).”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “MA members referred to home health after acute hospitalization who did not receive home health services had higher mortality.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Unfulfilled Home Health Referrals Lead To Higher Mortality Among Medicare Advantage Members. The American Journal of Managed Care, 2024;30(7). The American Journal of Managed Care can be contacted at: Managed Care & Healthcare Communications Llc, 666 Plainsboro Rd, Ste 300, Plainsboro, NJ 08536, USA.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Elan Gada, Optum Inc., 11000 Optum Circle, Eden Prairie, MN 55344, United States. Additional authors for this research include Paul Pangburn, Chris Sahr, Chad P. Schaben and Richard Young.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.37765/ajmc.2024.89579. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.