Community Paramedicine (CP) is a type of healthcare service using paramedics to provide patient-centered care in the out-of-hospital environment and collect feedback for care givers. CP intervention holds a great potential to reduce the Heart Failure (HF) readmissions and associated penalties by providing follow-up home visits after hospital discharge.

CP

Currently, the economic feasibility of CP intervention for HF discharges is not clear since paramedic services without transportation of patient are not reimbursed by Medicare and most private insurers. However, avoiding Medicare penalties through CP intervention can create monetary benefits for hospitals. The aim of this project is to develop a cost-benefit simulation model to evaluate the implementation of CP intervention for HF discharges by hospitals under the CMS Hospital Readmission Reduction Program. The cost-benefit model considers the demand, costs, and the financial benefits. To consider the variations in service area size, annual number of HF discharges and excess readmission ratio among hospitals, several scenarios are defined.