Identifying Future Hig Cost Individuals

‘Identifying Future High-Cost Individuals within an Intermediate Cost Population,’ by Juan Lu and others
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This is a peer-reviewed research article that was first published in the ‘Quality in Primary Care’ journal website in 2015. The article highlights research that was conducted in Virginia USA between 2010 and 2013 to help forecast the future health needs across different categories of people (Lu et al., 2015). Reading the article gives an impression that the primary focus of the study was to unearth some of the factors that affect the health needs of various population segments of the society with special emphasis on why the associated health costs for a certain population group may increase in the future. Further scrutiny of the article reveals that the underlying concept of the research is to use the findings of the research to improve patient experience, enhance health and decrease the costs of treatment.
The research evaluated information from 9,624 respondents who were classified into eight groups depending on the associated illness burden with groupings ranging from ‘good health’ to ‘near death.’ What is more, the respondents were not insured and belonged to the under 200% federal poverty level category. The respondents were given free treatment which included access to specialized care, allotment to a primary care provider, and affordable medication. At the end of the research, the program had enhanced the health of …