Transforming Care: We 💚 Lowering Readmissions

Summary

In the high-stakes world of healthcare, Medicare Advantage plans are on the hunt for ways to save money and make people feel better. Enter our hero: Healthrageous Made Easy Meals. Our latest case study isn’t just a feather in our cap—it’s a full-on parade float. Why? Because our Made Easy Meals program put the smackdown on heart failure (HF) patient readmission rates. And we’ve got the numbers to prove it.

Reducing Readmissions: The Hero We Didn't Know We Needed

Heart failure patients and readmissions go together like peanut butter and jelly—if peanut butter and jelly could financially sink healthcare plans. Knowing that, we grabbed our magnifying glasses (metaphorically speaking) and dove into the data pool of medical claims from 2022 and 2023 from one of our largest clients. Our mission? To find out if free, delicious, meals beyond the usual post-discharge benefit could keep people from coming back to the hospital.

Guess what? The results were more delightful than finding money in an old coat pocket. Those who joined our Healthrageous Made Easy Meals program showed a 20% reduction in 30-day readmission rates compared to those who didn't. That’s a savings of $1.8 million, which is enough to buy a small island or, more practically, a lot more meals. Even better, the findings held steady for folks with higher risk scores, proving that it wasn’t just the already healthy patients patting us on the back.

Let’s Break Down the Numbers (Without Putting You to Sleep)

Cohort Size

We analyzed data from 4,464 members and 6,382 admissions, which is a lot of people and even more paperwork, with 87% of visits being emergency room encounters.

Timeframe

Two whole years. That’s 730 days of hard-hitting data collection, or as we like to call it, “Excel’s worst nightmare.”

Impact on 30-Day Readmissions

Members who had meals with us for at least a year showed a statistically significant drop in readmission rates. Yep, turns out good food does more than just make your taste buds do a happy dance—it actually helps reduce likelihood of clinical deterioration while on the program.

Why It Works: A Little Nutritional TLC Goes a Long Way

So, why does this work so well? Simple: our Made Easy Meals program delivers hearty, healthy meals right to heart failure patients all year. No culinary degree required. Participation is as easy as ordering takeout but with way less guilt. No authorization is required and we spread the word to CHF patients through flyers, emails, texts, and broker referrals—basically, if a carrier pigeon was available, we’d have used that too.

Beyond the Data: The “What Now?” Phase

We’re not resting on our laurels (or even on a comfy couch). The current results are promising, but we’re going bigger. We’re talking monthly check-ins with new data and maybe some fancy Propensity Score Matching (PSM) once we have enough data to really flex those stats muscles.

A Call to Action (or: Join Our Healthcare Revolution, You Won’t Regret It)

If you’re a health insurance company looking to upgrade your supplemental benefits, take notes. Adding meal programs isn’t just a “nice touch”—it’s a game-changer that boosts recovery, cuts costs, improves retention, and makes everyone look like healthcare superheroes.

So, what are you waiting for? Ready to learn how the Healthrageous Made Easy Meals program can turn your plan into a goldmine of savings and smiles? Reach out to us today, and let’s get cooking. Your members—and your bottom line—will thank you.

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Want to see more statistically significant impact generated by our plan? Go read this post.