Vermont Blueprint for Health 2012 Annual Report

Total Expenditures: 

From 2007 through 2011, growth in total healthcare expenditures slowed across all groups in the commercial population, with the lowest growth rates in 2010 and 2011 (Figures 19 & 20). In 2011, both Blueprint Study Groups 73 showed the first trend towards an actual reduction in per capita healthcare expenditures, while the Commercial Comparison Group continued to trend upward. The Medicaid population demonstrated different trends than the commercial population, with a reduction in per capita healthcare expenditures in all groups from 2007 through 2010, followed by an uptick in 2011 (Figures 21 & 22). The rate of increase in 2011 was higher in the Medicaid Comparison Group than in either Blueprint Study Group. The overall trends in healthcare expenditures are examined more fully by showing the differences between the Study Groups and Comparison Groups during each year of the evaluation (Figures 23-24). 

Acute Episodic Care:

Rates of Hospital Inpatient Discharges and Emergency Department Visits are used as measures of acute episodic care. The annual rate of hospitalizations (Inpatient Discharges per 1000 people) is shown for the commercially insured population ages 18-64 years old (Figure 27), and for the Vermont Medicaid-insured population ages 18-64 years (Figure 28). In the commercially insured population, rates of hospital discharges were growing from 2007 to 2009. Growth rates slowed from 2008 to 2009, and subsequently declined for both Study Groups and the Comparison Group between 2009 and 2011. Trends in hospitalization rates were generally more favorable for the Blueprint Study Groups over time and in 2011. The Medicaid population, which started with substantially higher rates, showed a steady decline through 2010. From 2010 to 2011, hospitalization rates trended upward across all 3 groups, with the highest rate of increase in the non-Blueprint Comparison Group.