This data brief highlights key findings from a project that examined specific patterns of social indicators of health for 13 New Jersey low-income communities. It is intended to supplement an earlier report by Chakravarty et al. (2013) which examined patterns of hospital utilization among residents of the same 13 communities in an effort to identify opportunities to improve care and reduce costs for health care services. The 13 study areas are selected from communities with at least 5,000 Medicaid beneficiaries.
This report informs strategies to develop initiatives aimed at improving population health and decreasing avoidable hospitalizations and costs in New Jersey.
There is a great deal of geographic variation in healthcare utilization and cost across the United States as well as within the state of New Jersey. Recently, the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy documented substantial variation in avoidable hospital utilization and costs among 13 regions of NJ that are potential candidates for the formation of accountable care organizations (ACOs) in Medicaid. These findings have generated debate among policymakers and stakeholders about the causes of these variations and the extent to which they may be controllable or influenced by local healthcare providers.
The New Jersey Medicaid ACO Demonstration Project provides new opportunities to improve population health and lower costs through providers organized within the framework of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).
The New Jersey Medicaid ACO Demonstration Program provides new opportunities to improve the delivery of healthcare services through Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), which create the potential for better population health and containment of healthcare costs. This data book examines specific patterns of hospital utilization for residents of 13 low-income communities—which we refer to as potential ACO regions—to identify opportunities to improve care and reduce costs.
