Oops. A pilot project focused on providing home-based primary care services to patients with chronic conditions didn’t save as much money as originally thought, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
The federal agency issued a fact sheet Thursday that admits errors in its calculations and savings generated by the Independence at Home demonstration project are less than what it originally announced last August.
In its second year, the demonstration project saved the Medicare program a little more than $7.8 million during fiscal year 2015 instead of the $10 million originally reported. The savings amount to an average of about $746 per beneficiary, rather than the $1,010 figure CMS had announced. One fact did not change: Seven participating physician practices earned incentive payments of roughly $5 million.
The demonstration, which includes 15 physician practices, is testing the idea that house calls by healthcare providers can save money. The pilot project provided patients with a higher quality of care and fewer of them had visits to the emergency room.
The second year’s savings were not as impressive as during the first year of the project, when it saved Medicare $25 million or $3,070 per beneficiary.
Among the services delivered by the providers in the pilot program include follow-up within 48 hours of hospital admission or discharge; and reconciliation of medications within 48 hours of discharge.