Biomaterial Database

Self-care education: impact on HMO costs. 1982

D W Kemper

The ability of a medical self-care program to have an impact on the utilization and cost of in-clinic and referral visits in a prepaid group practice was studied by following the medical encounter records of 900 HMO members in 217 families during a 12-month period. A control group selected by randomization after acceptance of an initial invitation to participate was employed. In spite of the program's impressive effect on both self-care knowledge and per-visit costs, the study could not demonstrate any significant program effect either on the frequency or on the total costs of clinic visits.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007061	Idaho	State bounded on the north by Canada, on the east by Montana and Wyoming, on the south by Nevada and Utah, and on the west by Oregon and Washington.
D011897	Random Allocation	A process involving chance used in therapeutic trials or other research endeavor for allocating experimental subjects, human or animal, between treatment and control groups, or among treatment groups. It may also apply to experiments on inanimate objects.	Randomization,Allocation, Random
D003365	Costs and Cost Analysis	Absolute, comparative, or differential costs pertaining to services, institutions, resources, etc., or the analysis and study of these costs.	Affordability,Analysis, Cost,Cost,Cost Analysis,Cost Comparison,Cost Measures,Cost-Minimization Analysis,Costs and Cost Analyses,Costs, Cost Analysis,Pricing,Affordabilities,Analyses, Cost,Analyses, Cost-Minimization,Analysis, Cost-Minimization,Comparison, Cost,Comparisons, Cost,Cost Analyses,Cost Comparisons,Cost Measure,Cost Minimization Analysis,Cost, Cost Analysis,Cost-Minimization Analyses,Costs,Measure, Cost,Measures, Cost
D006266	Health Education	Education that increases the awareness and favorably influences the attitudes and knowledge relating to the improvement of health on a personal or community basis.	Community Health Education,Education, Health,Education, Community Health,Health Education, Community
D006279	Health Maintenance Organizations	Organized systems for providing comprehensive prepaid health care that have five basic attributes: (1) provide care in a defined geographic area; (2) provide or ensure delivery of an agreed-upon set of basic and supplemental health maintenance and treatment services; (3) provide care to a voluntarily enrolled group of persons; (4) require their enrollees to use the services of designated providers; and (5) receive reimbursement through a predetermined, fixed, periodic prepayment made by the enrollee without regard to the degree of services provided. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988)	Group Health Organizations, Prepaid,HMO,Prepaid Group Health Organizations,Health Maintenance Organization,Organizations, Health Maintenance,Organization, Health Maintenance
D006296	Health Services	Services for the diagnosis and treatment of disease and the maintenance of health.	Services, Health,Health Service
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D012648	Self Care	Caring for self when ill or positive actions and adopting behaviors to prevent illness.	Self-Care,Care, Self