The article investigated patterns of, timing and reasons for follow-up visits for patients with one of the top five reasons for outpatient visits in 2010: mental disorder, back problems, arthritis, chronic obstruct pulmonary disease/asthma and hypertension. Together, outpatient visits for these conditions cost $281 billion in 2010.
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For hypertension, which accounted for $13.03 billion in outpatient costs in 2010, researchers determined extending the follow-up visit time from six months to seven months after an initial appointment could decrease visits 15 percent per year and save $682 million. Extending the visit to nine months would cut annual visits 34 percent and save $1.5 billion. Having only an annual follow-up would cut visits 50 percent and save $2.3 billion.
Considering the large amount of money that could be saved, researchers suggested physicians begin to collect data on health outcomes and timing of follow-up visits in order to schedule the minimum safe number of follow-up visits and reap maximum potential savings to the system.
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