OUTPATIENT GERIATRIC EVALUATION AND MANAGEMENT - IS THERE AN INVESTMENT EFFECT

The effectiveness and efficiency of outpatient geriatric evaluation an d management (GEM) was compared to usual outpatient primary care (UPC) . Although GEM had nea overall impact on health care utilization or co st of care for the entire study period, significant reductions were fo und during the sixteen- to twenty-four-month study period, suggesting a possible investment effect, In the first eight months of the study, GEM patients incurred 34.8% more in health care costs than UPC patient s, hut in the final eight months of the study the cost of care far UPC patients exceeded that for CEM patients by 37.8%.