Does better disease management in primary care reduce hospital costs? Evidence from English primary care

Mark Dusheiko, Hugh Gravelle, Stephen Martin, Nigel Rice and Peter C. Smith

Journal of Health Economics, 2011, vol. 30, issue 5, 919-932

Abstract: We apply cross-sectional and panel data methods to a database of 5 million patients in 8000 English general practices to examine whether better primary care management of 10 chronic diseases is associated with reduced hospital costs. We find that only primary care performance in stroke care is associated with lower hospital costs. Our results suggest that the 10% improvement in the general practice quality of stroke care between 2004/5 and 2007/8 reduced 2007/8 hospital expenditure by about £130 million in England. The cost savings are due mainly to reductions in emergency admissions and outpatient visits, rather than to lower costs for patients treated in hospital or to reductions in elective admissions.

Keywords: Disease management; Primary care; Hospital costs; Ambulatory care sensitive conditions; Preventative care (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:30:y:2011:i:5:p:919-932

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2011.08.001

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