Providing home-delivered meals to Medicare beneficiaries could save the program $158 million in hospital readmission bills, according to a recent study from the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The analysis, conducted by Ananya Health Innovation and supported by The Commonwealth Fund and The SCAN Foundation, is based on 2016 data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey Public Use File. The study examined how chronically ill Medicare fee-for-service patients who would be eligible for the meal program fared after receiving the medically tailored meal deliveries for seven days post-discharge.
The study found the benefit could lead to 9,719 fewer hospital readmissions. For every dollar spent on the meals program, the study found a possible savings of $1.57 per patient, or a net savings of $57.3 million.
To view the full report, click here.
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