Increasing Health Center Capacity by 20
million patients could save more than $200
billion over the next decade; Medicaid
Savings could surpass $59 billion
Newswise — Expanding health centers to reach
an additional 20 million patients as part of
national health reform would result in
overall health care savings of $212 billion
over the ten-year period 2010 to 2019,
including federal Medicaid savings of $59
billion.
The dollar value of these expected savings
far exceeds the cost of the health center
investment of $38.8 billion called for in
the July 14 version of the House health
reform bill.
These findings are contained in a new study
entitled “Using Primary Care to Bend the
Curve: Estimating the Impact of a Health
Center Expansion on Health Care Costs,”
conducted by faculty and staff at The George
Washington University School of Public
Health and Health Services and funded
through the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community
Health Foundation Research Collaborative.
This research brief, the third in a series
examining the link between national health
reform proposals and community health
centers, estimates the cost savings that
would be realized by making important
investments in non-profit health centers as
an element of national health reform. The
brief makes several key findings:
• Today, in 2009, health centers serve 19
million patients, which will generate health
system savings of $24 billion in this year
because of the lower overall medical
expenditures associated with health center
patients.
• Coupling insurance reforms with a
20-million patient increase in health center
capacity over the next ten years would
generate an additional $35.6 billion in
savings in the year 2019. Over this ten-year
period 2010 to 2019, cumulative health
system savings would reach an estimated $212
billion.
• Were payments to health centers by health
insurers operating in a health insurance
exchange to be set at Medicaid’s prospective
payment rate, the number of new patients
served would rise from 20 million to 22
million, with more than 41 million patients
served. This additional change would raise
the ten-year cumulative health care savings
to $251 billion over the 2010-2019 time
period.
• At 20 million additional patients served,
Medicaid savings would reach $59 billion
over the ten-year time frame. Were the
number of additional patients served by
health centers to rise to 22 million,
federal Medicaid savings would exceed $70
billion over ten years.
Sara Rosenbaum, Hirsh Professor and Chair of
the Department of Health Policy at GW, said
“These estimates underscore the importance
of simultaneous investments in both health
insurance reform and health center expansion
funding to create sustainable primary care
for medically underserved communities.”
"The direct federal investment in health
centers needs to go hand in hand with
insurance expansion for low income
patients," added Julio Bellber, president
and CEO of the RCHN Community Health
Foundation. "Together they can create an
economic engine that will allow us to extend
the high quality, primary healthcare home
model to all communities."
The savings projected under the study
reinforce the premise that health insurance
coverage expansions, coupled with
investments in the nation’s primary health
care infrastructure, can spur high quality
and sustainable primary health care in
medically underserved rural, urban and
suburban communities while simultaneously
bending the health care cost curve.
The report is available
here.
About the RCHN Community Health Foundation
The RCHN Community Health Foundation (RCHN
CHF) is a New York-based not-for-profit
operating foundation dedicated to supporting
and benefiting community health centers (CHCs)
in New York state and nationally.
The Foundation develops and supports
programmatic and business initiatives
related to community health center access,
pharmacy and health information technology
through strategic investment, research,
outreach, education, and coalition building.
For more information about RCHN CHF, visit
www.rchnfoundation.org,.
About The George Washington University
Medical Center
The George Washington University Medical
Center is an internationally recognized
interdisciplinary academic health center
that has consistently provided high-quality
medical care in the Washington, DC,
metropolitan area for 176 years.
The Medical Center comprises the School of
Medicine and Health Sciences, the 11th
oldest medical school in the country; the
School of Public Health and Health Services,
the only such school in the nation’s
capital; GW Hospital, jointly owned and
operated by a partnership between The George
Washington University and Universal Health
Services, Inc.; and the GW Medical Faculty
Associates, an independent faculty practice
plan. For more information on GWUMC, visit
www.gwumc.edu.
