Patient-Centered Medical Home Membership Is Associated with Decreased Hospital Admissions for Emergency Department Behavioral Health Patients

The objective was to examine the impact of a multipayer patient-centered medical home (PCMH) on health care utilization for behavioral health patients seen at a tertiary care emergency department (ED). A retrospective health records review was performed for PCMH and non-PCMH patients who presented and received a psychiatric consultation during a 2-year period in the ED of the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Univariable and multivariable associations with the outcomes of admission and return visits within 72 hours were evaluated using logistic regression models and summarized with odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). There were 5398 visits among 3815 patients during the study period. Among these, there were 2440 (45%) PCMH patient visits. There were 2983 (55%) total patient visits resulting in an admission. In a univariable model, PCMH patients (53%) were less likely to be admitted from the ED compared with non-PCMH patients (57%) (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.76-0.94; P=0.002) and this remained statistically significant (OR 0.83; 95% CI 0.74-0.93; P=0.001) after multivariable adjustment. Among the 2415 non-admitted patients, there was no significant difference in returns within 72 hours between PCMH patients (13%) and non-PCMH patients (12%) (OR 1.12; 95% CI 0.83-1.43; P=0.36). PCMH membership was associated with a lower probability of inpatient hospitalization from the ED. PCMH interventions may be associated with a reduction in health care utilization.