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New Study Published in Journal of Health Economics Finds CareEngine(R) System Improved Healthcare Quality While Lowering Healthcare Costs By 6%

Posted on: Wednesday, 4 June 2008, 12:01 CDT

ActiveHealth Management (ActiveHealth(R)) announced today the publication of a study in the May issue of Journal of Health Economics that analyzed the impact of the CareEngine(R) System, a sophisticated technology that compares member health data to medical best practices and issues alerts when opportunities for better care or potential medical errors are identified. The study demonstrated that medical best practices were followed at a greater rate, quality of care improved, and costs were 6% lower when CareEngine alerts were issued.

"Being a physician today is not easy. Patients with chronic health issues are seeing multiple doctors and important information is not easily shared among all parties. To make matters worse, the volume and complexity of new medical evidence can be overwhelming. These issues contribute to the high prevalence of medical errors in our country today," said Lonny Reisman, MD, CEO of ActiveHealth Management and study co-author. "CareEngine supports physicians by identifying and communicating specific instances where care is not meeting evidence-based clinical standards. The result is better care for patients and lower costs for payers."

Highlights of Results:

-- Average total charges were reduced by 6.1% in the study group. This difference is both economically and statistically significant.

-- Savings were mainly associated with reduced charges for hospital admissions and for the services of doctors during those admissions.

-- The highest-cost patients showed the greatest savings.

-- Older patients and male patients were likely to generate a higher volume of alerts and more severe alerts. These results are both statistically significant, large in magnitude and underscore the likely role that complexity of care plays in medical errors.

-- Data were collected for the two years following the study. At that point, both the study and control groups were receiving CareEngine services. When the new data were analyzed, the previously noted cost differential disappeared.

Study Design

This 12-month, randomized, prospective study tracked 39,508 members of a commercial health plan. Study participants were randomly assigned to either a study group (19,716 members) or a control group (19,792 members). CareEngine technology was applied to the data of members in the study group and their physicians received alerts. Member data in the control group were not analyzed until after the study was over, so their physicians did not receive alerts.

"The critical message in this study is that costs were reduced not by restricting access to care, but by preventing the need for hospitalizations for life-threatening conditions," said Jonathan Javitt, MD, MPH, study lead author, and former health committee chair of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee in the White House Executive Office of the President. "This study is the first that has been accepted in both the clinical literature and the health economic literature which demonstrates that inexpensive information technology solutions can be used to both save lives and save money."

The current study complements the results of an earlier study also designed to determine the impact of the CareEngine System. The earlier study(1), published in The American Journal of Managed Care, found that, across that study population, there were 46 potentially serious medical errors identified per 1,000 people, 8.4% fewer hospitalizations and cost savings of $8.07 per member per month.

The Journal of Health Economics article, titled "Information Technology and Medical Missteps: Evidence from a Randomized Trial," was authored by Jonathan C. Javitt, James B. Rebitzer and Lonny Reisman.

About ActiveHealth Management

ActiveHealth Management is a leading provider of health management services, including disease management, clinical decision support and personal health records. The company's solutions, all based on its patented CareEngine(R) System, help health plans, employers and government payors improve care and reduce medical costs. Nearly 18 million people nationwide benefit from ActiveHealth programs. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in New York City, ActiveHealth is an independent subsidiary of Aetna (NYSE: AET). For more information, please visit http://www.activehealth.net.

ActiveHealth(R) and CareEngine(R) are registered trademarks of Active Health Management, Inc.

(1) Javitt, et al. "Using a Claims Data-based, Sentinel System to Improve Compliance with Clinical Guidelines: Results of a Randomized Prospective Study," American Journal of Managed Care Feb. 2005; 11:93-102

Source: Business Wire

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