A primary care-led, integrated palliative program scaled across multiple geographies, care sites and payers demonstrated higher quality care while lowering total cost of care.
A primary care-led palliative program from agilon health (NYSE: AGL) has demonstrated improvement in patient outcomes and reduced hospitalizations.
A recent study examined results of the company’s Total Care Model for patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage or Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health (ACO REACH). The findings appeared in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.
“American health care is facing an impending crisis. We have a rapidly aging population and no specialized palliative workforce to care for this increasingly complex, vulnerable population,” Dr. Benjamin Kornitzer, agilon’s chief medical officer and a co-author of the study, said in a statement. “These new findings show the solution to this problem has been right in front of us all along: the primary care physician (PCP).”
Researchers evaluated a scaled primary care-led, integrated palliative care program across multiple geographies, care sites and payers. Results show the model improved outcomes for seriously ill seniors and helped them stay in their homes, according to the study.
The study showed that patients enrolled in a primary care-led, integrated palliative care program delivered within a full-risk model spent an average of five more days at home during their final months and were almost two-thirds less likely to die in a hospital.
Founded in 2016, agilon health, inc. offers primary care physician services nationwide. In 2022, the company serviced more than 269,500 Medicare Advantage members and 89,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries.
“These findings underscore the ability of value-based care to drive better outcomes for individuals and their families,” said Dr. John Notaro, medical director for Buffalo Medical Group and agilon physician partner whose practice participated in the study. “It is clear that there is tremendous benefit to patients and our health care system by investing in primary care physicians and helping scale palliative care programs.”
