Author(s)

Maria Cristina Marazzi¹, Maria Chiara Inzerilli², Olga Madaro³, Leonardo Palombi⁴, Paola Scarcella⁴, Stefano Orlando³, Massimo Maurici⁴, Giuseppe Liotta^4*

¹LUMSA University, Rome, Italy.
²Municipality of Rome, Rome, Italy.
³Community of Sant’Egidio, Long Live the Elderly Program, Rome, Italy.
⁴Dept. of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy.

Introduction: Social isolation increases in the over-74 population and it is a risk factor for death and Long Term Care (LTC) use. In order to prevent the negative consequences of social isolation on this population community interventions focused on strengthening the social network should be intensified. The aim of this paper is to describe the impact on health care use of a Community-based pro-Active Monitoring Program (CAMP) providing phone monitoring to all the clients and home visits according to the individual’s needs. Methodology: In order to provide an evaluation of the program outcomes, the rates of clients’ hospitalization and admissions to Long Term Care facilities during 2011 have been assessed. The observed rates have been compared with expected ones calculated on available information for similar population. A cost-analysis has been also carried out to analyze the program sustainability. Results: The studied sample is made up by 1408 over-74 citizens followed up during 2011 in Rome (Italy) by CAMP. The cumulative observation time was 1362 p/y; 61 individuals died during 2011 (death rate 4.3%). The hospital admission rate observed among CAMP’s clients was 254‰ (357/1408; CL95% ± 91‰), lower than the 282‰ reported for the over-74 population of Rome. This translates into 39 averted hospitalization. The LTC admission rate is also reduced among CAMP’s clients (9/1,408, 6.6‰ CL95% ± 0.8‰ vs. 9.7‰ reported for a comparable sample); it translates into 4 averted LTC admissions. The averted cost ranged between 47,153 € and 220,117 € according to the range of services used by the clients, which translates into a percentage of estimated cost reduction on yearly basis ranged between 3% and 12.5% of the whole cost of services used by the studied population. Discussion: The paper suggests the capacity of CAMP to reduce both the over-74 hospitalization rate and use of LTC. Cost analysis also indicates a cost reduction as a consequence of the CAMP implementation. Further studies including a control group and a detailed cost-benefit analysis are needed to check the program sustainability on larger population.

Social Isolation, Hospitalization, Long Term Care Use, Active Monitoring, Social Capital

Marazzi, M. , Inzerilli, M. , Madaro, O. , Palombi, L. , Scarcella, P. , Orlando, S. , Maurici, M. and Liotta, G. (2015) Impact of the Community-Based Active Monitoring Program on the Long Term Care Services Use and In-Patient Admissions of the Over-74 Population. Advances in Aging Research, 4, 187-194. doi: 10.4236/aar.2015.46020.