Easy Access To Patient-Centered Medical Homes Drops Medicare Beneficiary Total Health Care Expenditures By 25%

Being able to contact a usual source of care with little or no difficulty during business hours reduced total health care costs for Medicare beneficiaries by 25%, and their inpatient costs by over 70%. Spending on outpatient, emergency department (ED) services, and pharmacy were not affected by ease of contact during business hours.

Availability of office hours at night or on the weekend reduced outpatient spending by 19% and ED spending by 42%, but did not impact inpatient or pharmacy service spending. Asking about medications and treatments prescribed by other doctors raised pharmacy spending by 14%. Health care service delivery . . .