Health screening and its association with emergency department visits and related costs among home-dwelling older adults

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the health screening procedure for home-dwelling older adults in reducing emergency department visits and associated costs.Methods Data were derived from health screenings from 2020 to 2021 for 75-year-old home-dwelling residents...

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Main Authors: Jonna-Carita Kanninen, Hannu Kautiainen, Anu Holm
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-01-01
Series:Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02813432.2024.2423233
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author Jonna-Carita Kanninen
Hannu Kautiainen
Anu Holm
author_facet Jonna-Carita Kanninen
Hannu Kautiainen
Anu Holm
author_sort Jonna-Carita Kanninen
collection DOAJ
description Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the health screening procedure for home-dwelling older adults in reducing emergency department visits and associated costs.Methods Data were derived from health screenings from 2020 to 2021 for 75-year-old home-dwelling residents of Western Finland. The study compared emergency department visits and associated costs between older adults who participated in the health screening (intervention group) and those who did not (non-intervention group). For each older adult, three non-intervention controls were matched according to age, sex, health screening year and wellbeing service county. Emergency department visits and International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes from one year before to two years after health screening were analyzed.Results In the non-intervention group, a 19% increase in emergency visit rates was seen (457–564 per 1000 person-years), while the intervention group showed a 67% decrease (165–23). Annual costs for the non-intervention group increased from 148 euros (€) to €183, a mean ratio increase of 1.24 per person-year (range 1.08–1.40). In contrast, the intervention group’s costs decreased from €53 to €8, a mean reduction ratio of 0.15 per person-year (range 0.10–0.71). The intervention group had lower frequency of visits for respiratory and circulatory diseases but higher for digestive and metabolic diseases, unlike the non-intervention group.Conclusions The implementation of the health screening is an effective strategy for reducing both the frequency of emergency department visits and associated costs in home-dwelling older adults in good condition.
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spelling doaj-art-667bdb5807df4a7c9023cb7ae54e13892025-08-20T03:12:43ZengTaylor & Francis GroupScandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care0281-34321502-77242025-01-0143120921810.1080/02813432.2024.2423233Health screening and its association with emergency department visits and related costs among home-dwelling older adultsJonna-Carita Kanninen0Hannu Kautiainen1Anu Holm2Wellbeing Services County of North Savo, FinlandPrimary Health Care Unit, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, FinlandFaculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, FinlandBackground The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the health screening procedure for home-dwelling older adults in reducing emergency department visits and associated costs.Methods Data were derived from health screenings from 2020 to 2021 for 75-year-old home-dwelling residents of Western Finland. The study compared emergency department visits and associated costs between older adults who participated in the health screening (intervention group) and those who did not (non-intervention group). For each older adult, three non-intervention controls were matched according to age, sex, health screening year and wellbeing service county. Emergency department visits and International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes from one year before to two years after health screening were analyzed.Results In the non-intervention group, a 19% increase in emergency visit rates was seen (457–564 per 1000 person-years), while the intervention group showed a 67% decrease (165–23). Annual costs for the non-intervention group increased from 148 euros (€) to €183, a mean ratio increase of 1.24 per person-year (range 1.08–1.40). In contrast, the intervention group’s costs decreased from €53 to €8, a mean reduction ratio of 0.15 per person-year (range 0.10–0.71). The intervention group had lower frequency of visits for respiratory and circulatory diseases but higher for digestive and metabolic diseases, unlike the non-intervention group.Conclusions The implementation of the health screening is an effective strategy for reducing both the frequency of emergency department visits and associated costs in home-dwelling older adults in good condition.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02813432.2024.2423233Effectivenesshealth screeningolder adultssecondary use of dataprimary healthcare
spellingShingle Jonna-Carita Kanninen
Hannu Kautiainen
Anu Holm
Health screening and its association with emergency department visits and related costs among home-dwelling older adults
Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care
Effectiveness
health screening
older adults
secondary use of data
primary healthcare
title Health screening and its association with emergency department visits and related costs among home-dwelling older adults
title_full Health screening and its association with emergency department visits and related costs among home-dwelling older adults
title_fullStr Health screening and its association with emergency department visits and related costs among home-dwelling older adults
title_full_unstemmed Health screening and its association with emergency department visits and related costs among home-dwelling older adults
title_short Health screening and its association with emergency department visits and related costs among home-dwelling older adults
title_sort health screening and its association with emergency department visits and related costs among home dwelling older adults
topic Effectiveness
health screening
older adults
secondary use of data
primary healthcare
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02813432.2024.2423233
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AT hannukautiainen healthscreeninganditsassociationwithemergencydepartmentvisitsandrelatedcostsamonghomedwellingolderadults
AT anuholm healthscreeninganditsassociationwithemergencydepartmentvisitsandrelatedcostsamonghomedwellingolderadults