Modelling the Future of Home Health for Seniors – A Markov based Cost Effectiveness Analysis

The task of providing high quality care has become increasingly difficult as pressure mounts on both the funding and demand side of the provision equation. This challenge is particularly acute for health leaders caring for a growing elderly population in an already strained system. While our senior patient populations consume more expensive acute healthcare resources with higher frequency, they are also more likely to experience negative outcomes in these venues of care and often prefer to remain in their homes for as long as possible.   

The Economic Learning Health System (eLHS) is a framework designed to guide continuous improvement and optimization of limited health care resources to achieve the highest possible quality of care for patients. This research project is aimed at applying this framework to the challenge of caring for seniors in British Columbia. Anticipated outcomes include an analytic infrastructure that will quantify care needs, simulate potential innovations to address these needs, and determine the most sustainable path to caring for our seniors now and in the future. 

This project was funded by the Health System Impact Fellowship from CIHR, and is being conducted in partnership with the BC Ministry of Health. The fellow leading this project is Dr. William Hall – a health economist trained at UBC and creator of the eLHS framework. He will be working with Dr. Michael Law from the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, and Christine Voggenreiter from the BC Ministry of Health.