THE IMPACT OF A SPOUSE-CAREGIVER SUPPORT GROUP ON CARE RECIPIENT HEALTH-CARE COSTS

Frail elderly veterans who received care at a Department of Veterans A ffairs medical center and whose spouse-caregivers participated in supp ort groups to which they had been randomly assigned had lower health c are costs over a 1-year period than did control participants. The grea test impact was observed for participants perceived by their spouse-ca regivers to be in the poorest health. What is important to consider ab out this result in terms of health care policymaking is that support g roups targeted for spouse-caregivers of elderly veterans in poor healt h produced significant outpatient, inpatient, and total cost savings f or the care recipients, and were cost effective.