Supporting Efficiency in Health Care at the Community Level

Abstract

Health care providers and payers in the United States have worked to provide care at reasonable costs. This has frequently been a challenge. For example, the COVID epidemic has generated large expenditures with limited efforts to contain costs. Based on the experiences of providers in Syracuse, New York, this study suggested that realistic approaches are necessary to improve health care efficiency. It described three programs that have improved utilization at the community level. They have included the diversion of large numbers of ambulances that directed patients to emergency departments where care was most available. They have also involved length of stay reduction that saved thousands of patient days and made additional inpatient care available in hospitals. They have also included the use of ambulatory surgery to reduce the need for inpatient care. The data from these programs demonstrated that efforts to improve the efficiency of care can reduce inpatient utilization and improve outcomes. The Syracuse hospitals have used them to make additional capacity available for COVID patients and other populations.