A study published in Health Affairs examined the care of 10,000 patients at a Seattle-area Group Health Cooperative “medical home”, where primary care physicians are responsible for coordinating individual patients’ care.  The study examined costs and patient outcomes, and found that patients in Group Health’s medical home had 29 percent fewer ER visits and six percent fewer hospitalizations than other patients.  The startup cost required $16 per patient annually, but doctors involved in the medical home said that after a couple of years they began to see savings, and that eventually they found that for each dollar they invested in the system, they saved $1.50.  Group Health is expanding the system to all 26 of its Washington medical centers, to cover more than 400,000 patients.

Reid, R.J. et. al. (2010). The group health medical home at year two: cost savings, higher patient satisfaction and less burnout for providers. Health Affairs, 29(5): 835-843. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/29/5/835

Authors: Robert J. Reid, Katie Coleman, Eric A. Johnson, Paul A. Fishman, Clarissa Hsu, Michael P. Soman, Claire E. Trescott, Michael Erikson and Eric B. Larson