Postpartum home nurse visits improve infant health, re...( hospital billing data to determine the...),Health

hospital billing data to determine the number of home nurse visits scheduled by discharge physicians, and the number of hospital readmissions and ED visits for the 2,967 babies discharged from the newborn nursery at Penn State Children's Hospital from January 2000 through December 2002. A total of 326 infants were discharged with a scheduled home health nurse visit and 2,641 infants were discharged without a scheduled nurse visit.

Two of 326 who had a home nurse visit were readmitted within the first 10 days of life (0.6 percent) compared with 73 of 2,641 (2.8 percent). Ninety-two of the 2,641 infants (3.5 percent) who did not receive a home nurse visit returned to the hospital ED within the first 10 days of life and 21 of those were readmitted. In contrast, none of the 326 who had a home nurse visit returned to the ED.

The average cost of a home nurse visit to insurers is about $85 while the cost of an ED visit and readmission is about is $400 and $4,000, respectively. In the current study, after nursery discharge, the average cost per child who received a home health visit was $109.80 compared to $118.70 for each newborn who did not receive a visit. When totaled, the data suggest that insurance payers will save $181.82 for every additional child who does not use hospital services (ED or inpatient) in the first 10 days of life.

"This data demonstrates that home nurse visitation is less costly and affords a significant reduction in the need for subsequent hospital and ED visits due to jaundice and dehydration in newborns," Paul said. "These data also show that a program in which each infant receives a home visit may be less expensive to payers as a result of the reduction in the need for more expensive hospital-based services."

Although not a specific goal of this study, home nurse visits often provide support for mothers in addition to assessing the health of infants. Nurses can help mothers with breastfeeding problems, assess the
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4-Oct-2004

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