WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Improving primary care and getting more people to adopt healthier behaviors could save more than 4 million hospitalizations a year, a U.S. report said.
The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report said $29 billion could be saved by avoiding the need to hospitalize patients for health problems that often can be prevented or kept stable by physicians in their offices.
The analysis was based on AHRQ’s estimate of what hospitals spent in 2004 on care for several potentially preventable adult conditions including:
-- Diabetes at $2.6 billion.
-- Angina not involving a procedure at $435 million.
-- Congestive heart failure at $8.3 billion.
-- High blood pressure at $509 million.
-- Asthma at $1.4 billion.
-- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at $3.4 billion.
-- Bacterial pneumonia at $7 billion.
-- Dehydration at $1.4 billion.
-- Urinary tract infection at $2 billion.
The estimates also include four pediatric conditions of short-term diabetes, asthma, gastroenteritis and urinary tract infection -- for a total of $737 million.
