Every year, over half of all healthcare expenditures in the US go toward the treatment of just five percent of the population, who are often called “high utilizers." Most research and intervention thus far have focused on increasing coordination of care and developing medical homes for patients who are frequently grappling with multiple, chronic, physical and behavioral health conditions, however, the greater attention on high utilization provides an additional opportunity to reduce patterns of high utilization across the population by applying prevention methodology. A comprehensive strategy to address the challenges of high utilization should include methods that prevent illness and injury in the first place.
With primary funding support from Blue Shield of California Foundation, Prevention Institute is applying a community-wide prevention lens to the challenges of high utilization. Our writing to date includes:
Paper: Disrupting the Pathway: A Prevention Approach to Medical High Utilization draws on the rich body of prevention research and practice to demonstrate the value prevention brings to existing efforts by the healthcare system.
Press: Turning medical 'frequent fliers' into healthier homebodies: Op-ed published by the Mercury News
Infographic: Medical High Utilization - A Complex Challenge That Can Be Prevented
Fact Sheet: this High Utilizer Fact Sheet provides a snapshot of our recently published paper, Disrupting the Pathway – A Prevention Approach to Medical High Utilization.