Could integrating social services and healthcare in a hospital setting have a positive impact on health for older adults?
Professor Amanda Brewster, a member of our faculty, recently investigated this question in a paper published in Health Affairs. She found that “Partnerships with hospitals located in an agency’s service county were associated with a reduction of $136 in average annual Medicare spending per beneficiary, while partnerships with mental health organizations in an agency’s service county saw potentially avoidable nursing home use fall by 0.5 percentage points…Our results suggest that investments in health and human services partnerships through Area Agencies on Aging can yield health returns among older adults, in the form of reduced health care use and spending.”
Check out the full article by clicking here.