PROVIDENCE – In a new report slated to be published in the upcoming November edition of the Rhode Island Medical Journal, the Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic estimated its “Bridging the (Health Equity) Gap” program, or BTG, could save the Rhode Island health care system up to $781,122 annually in emergency department burden costs if the program were expanded to 8,000 uninsured Hispanics statewide.
The BTG program began in 2016 to mitigate and address impacts of uninsurance on the Hispanic population in Rhode Island. It is designed as a chronic-disease management program that provides continuity of care and access to non-emergent walk-in care to uninsured Hispanics on the west and south sides of Providence, the clinic said.
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The report noted in 2016 the uninsured rate for Hispanics and Latinos in Rhode Island was nearly 11 percent, compared with 4.3 percent for the state overall.
The 2016-2017 trial, which had 549 participants, resulted in a reduction in emergency department visits, lowered cost of care for patients and improved at least one clinical indicator outcome for a majority of patients. Participation was voluntary and involved quarterly clinic visits and semiannual health education classes.
“The health data measured by Bridging the (Health Equity) Gap again makes perfectly clear that the health interventions that have the greatest impact are those that are community-based and that support health in the places where we live, learn, work and play,” said Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the R.I. Department of Health, in a statement.
According to the study, data “suggested” BTG participants were “much less likely to utilize the ED unnecessarily compared to Medicaid patients.” As Medicaid costs local government under the Affordable Care Act, the BTG study set out to calculate the potential cost of savings to state and federal government by reducing ED visits.
The report posited the BTG program could prevent 1,851 out of 2,468 ED visits (the estimated high-end total uninsured ED visits by the Rhode Island Hispanic population in Providence County).
The R.I. Department of Health said around 70 percent of all visits by individuals with Medicaid to the ED were potentially preventable. The BTG study’s estimated ED visit reduction and related cost savings were based on the assumption of a 75 percent preventable ED visitation rate for the uninsured Hispanic population in Rhode Island.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. Email him at Bergenheim@PBN.com.
