The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York has implemented a program to treat patients at home, according to the International Business Times.
Here are eight things to know:
1. The program is a model for a nationwide initiative to send physicians on home visits to treat patients to improve their quality of life and save taxpayer dollars.
2. Medicare covers 55 million people aged 65 years or older.
3. The number of Americans eligible for Medicare is projected to grow to 72.1 million by 2030.
4. Medicare's Independence at Home enlisted 17 hospitals to send physicians, nurses and social workers to visit elderly patients to administer care to patients at their homes. They performed services such as recording their blood pressure and monitoring patients' medication to prevent medical emergencies from occurring later.
5. Independence at Home had healthcare professional treat 8,400 patients in their homes, saving Medicare $25 million in the program's first year.
6. The American Academy of Home Care Medicine estimated that nearly 1.5 million of Americans would be eligible for the program if it was implemented on a national level, resulting in saving of $4.5 billion each year.
7. The program aims to rein in costs, which critics claim is not a primary focus of the Affordable Care Act.
8. A nationwide program would help patients and family members understand their options for care as they reach the end of life, which is the most costly care a person ever receives. Medicare allocated approximately 28 percent of their funds for the final six months of patients' lives.
More on practice management:
Orthopedic surgeon density for all 50 states
The real danger of cyber attacks — 7 notes
The possibility of changing healthcare: 5 notes on the cloud