Health Care Use Before and After Entering Long-Term Services and Supports

Objective: We examined the health care utilization patterns of Medicare and Medicaid enrollees (MMEs) before and after initiating long-term care in the community or after admission to a nursing facility (NF).

Method: We used administrative data to compare hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits, and post-acute care use of MMEs receiving long-term care in California in 2006-2007.

Results: MMEs admitted to a NF for long-term care had much greater use of hospitalizations, ED visits, and post-acute care before initiating long-term care than those entering long-term care in the community. Post-entry, community service users had less than half the average monthly hospital and ED use compared with the NF cohort.

Conclusion: Hospital and ED use prior to and following NF and personal care program entry suggest a need for reassessing the monitoring of these high-risk populations and the communication between health and community care providers.