Health care costs continue to rise, with post-acute complications, chronic condition escalation and fragmented care placing significant financial strain on insurers and employer-sponsored plans.
These challenges inflate the total cost of care and compromise patient outcomes.
Integrated home care services offer a proven, cost-effective alternative to fragmented care. By combining skilled and non-medical services under one coordinated plan, organizations ensure care continuity, reduce operational costs and deliver measurable results.
Partnering with BrightStar Care® allows organizations to lower expenses, improve care quality and achieve demonstrable ROI.
What’s Driving Health Care Costs Today
Post-Acute and Readmission Expenses
Transitions from hospital to home are high-risk periods, with nearly 20% of Medicare patients being rehospitalized within 30 days of discharge, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Each readmission can cost insurers an average of $16,000 per patient, money that could be saved when care is coordinated and patients are supported at home.
These high-cost transitions are further amplified when multiple vendors or caregivers are involved. Disjointed communication, duplicated services and unclear care plans increase administrative and clinical overhead, creating unnecessary expenses for payors.
Chronic Condition Management Gaps
According to the CDC, chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart failure and COPD represent approximately 90% of total U.S. health care costs. Fragmented services, inconsistent monitoring and lack of patient engagement contribute to avoidable emergency department visits, hospitalizations and medication non-adherence.
Lack of Care Continuity
Multiple vendors and uncoordinated handoffs create gaps in care, resulting in care delays, repeated assessments and miscommunication between providers.
These gaps can also increase costs and negatively impact patient health outcomes, satisfaction and safety.
What Integrated Home Care Looks Like
Integrated home care services from BrightStar Care combine skilled nursing, therapy services and personal care under a single plan. This home health care approach ensures patients’ clinical and personal needs are met, while reducing the total cost of care.
Skilled + Non-Medical Bundled Services to Cut Costs and Improve Outcomes
Bundling skilled nursing and non-medical services ensures patients receive comprehensive support, which helps reduce redundancy and improve efficiency.
For example, a patient recovering from orthopedic surgery may receive RN oversight and coordination of care for wound care, physical therapy and Personal Care through a single coordinated provider, avoiding multiple service contracts and associated costs.
One Coordinated Care Plan
BrightStar Care follows the partner plan of care. If there is no partner plan of care, BrightStar Care assigns a registered nurse (RN) to oversee care coordination, monitor quality metrics and adjust services as needs change. Having a single point of accountability is essential for eliminating fragmented communication, streamlining documentation and reducing administrative burden for insurers and payors.
Seamless Care from Recovery to Chronic Condition Management
From hospital discharge to stabilization and ongoing chronic condition management, BrightStar Care maintains consistent, RN-led oversight.
This continuity minimizes avoidable hospital readmissions and promotes proactive interventions, improving overall patient safety, satisfaction and well-being.
How Integration Reduces Total Cost of Care
Integrated home care services prevent high-cost events and reduce unnecessary spending during post-acute recovery and chronic care.
By coordinating skilled and non-medical services through a single care model, insurers and employer-sponsored plans can limit avoidable utilization, improve efficiency and maintain clearer oversight of quality metrics.
Key ways integrated home care helps reduce health care costs:
- Avoid costly hospital readmissions and emergency department (ED) visits: Aligned, RN-led care helps catch issues early, before they require a costly hospital readmission or emergency department visit. In an Avalere Health analysis, patients receiving nurse-led home care demonstrated lower rates of hospital admissions and ED utilization compared with matched populations, suggesting meaningful opportunities to reduce high-cost care utilization.
- Avoid longer hospital stays and associated costs: Timely nursing, therapy and personal care can help patients transition out of higher-cost settings sooner. Plus, when patients continue receiving the right mix of skilled and non-medical support from the comfort of home, recovery often moves more quickly.
- Provide consistent, reliable care from start to finish: A single, coordinated care plan reduces missed handoffs, repeated assessments and confusion or miscommunication between providers. Fewer care gaps translate to smoother operations and lower overall administrative burden.
- Support stronger chronic care management: Ongoing RN-led oversight and regular in-home support help patients stay on track with medications, symptom monitoring and daily care. This steady approach helps reduce the risk of complications that often lead to costly acute events and hospital readmissions.
- Reduce service duplication and associated costs: Bundled home care solutions reduce overlapping visits and redundant care services. With fewer vendors involved, care delivery becomes streamlined and easier to manage.
- Achieve better patient engagement at home: Patients who feel heard, supported and valued are more likely to follow care plans and speak up when something feels off. That personalized engagement helps prevent small issues from becoming expensive problems for insurers and payors.
- Provide clearer insight to payors: Integrated models make it easier to track utilization trends and quality metrics across the care continuum, giving payors better insight into performance and cost drivers.
ROI and Cost-Savings Examples
Example cost comparison: fragmented home care vs integrated home care
*estimated cost savings based on published benchmarks
|
Cost Driver |
Fragmented Home Care Services |
Integrated Home Care Services |
Estimated Cost Savings |
|
30-day readmission cost |
Higher likelihood of rehospitalization due to gaps in post-acute follow-up |
Coordinated, RN-led care with skilled and non-medical support reduces risk of readmission |
|
|
90-day episode of care after ED or hospital discharge |
Higher total costs driven by fragmented post-acute recovery |
Lower total costs with home-based recovery and care coordination |
|
|
12-month post-discharge total cost of care |
Higher cumulative costs when patients lack structured home support |
Coordinate home health care support to reduce utilization and readmissions |
|
|
Emergency department and hospital utilization |
Higher ED and hospital utilization due to gaps in post-acute follow-up and coordination |
Coordinated care with mobile integrated health care, reducing ED and hospital utilization |
program savings of ~$2.4 million over six months (ROI ~2.97) |
Employer or Insurer Scenario
Integrated home care models can directly reduce high-cost health care use while keeping patients safe and supported at home.
Research shows that programs combining clinical and non-medical support (e.g., coordinated Skilled Nursing, Therapy and Personal Care) can:
- Reduce emergency visits by 15%–50%*
- Lower condition-specific readmissions by 10%–30%*
- Shorten hospital stays by 1–7 days*
*When compared with usual care.
These improvements translate into real cost savings for insurers and businesses. By consolidating skilled and non-medical care under one coordinated plan, organizations can:
- Keep patients healthier at home
- Reduce preventable hospital and ED use
- Track quality metrics and measure ROI easily
Integrated care improves outcomes and targets key cost drivers, helping payors and employers save money and deliver better care.
BrightStar Care’s Integrated Care Model
Full Continuum of Home Care Services
BrightStar Care provides a complete range of services, including skilled nursing, therapy services, personal care, Hospital-at-Home & acute care-at-home and clinical trial Support. By bundling skilled and non-medical services, patients receive all necessary care under a single plan, reducing duplication and lowering costs.
Integrated home care services also ensure that patients receive all necessary care under a single coordinated plan, reducing redundancy and overall costs.
RN Oversight and Quality Governance
Every BrightStar Care plan includes RN-led oversight and adherence to standardized quality metrics. This ensures safe, effective and compliant care, giving insurers and employers confidence in measurable outcomes.
Scalable Delivery and Reporting
With over 420 locations in 41 states , BrightStar Care delivers consistent care across regions. Data-driven dashboards track quality metrics, patient satisfaction and cost savings, providing insurers with actionable insights into program performance and ROI.
Integrated home care is a proven, patient-centered approach that reduces costs, improves chronic condition management and ensures seamless care transitions. Partnering with BrightStar Care gives insurers and employers a comprehensive, RN-led, data-driven solution that delivers better outcomes and measurable ROI.
Discover how BrightStar Care’s integrated home care services can help your organization cut costs, improve patient outcomes and simplify care coordination.