High-Intensity Care Management Program Shows Promise for Reducing Hospital Use and Spending for Super Utilizers

With persistent concerns about health care expenditures, the health care field has recognized a group of patients known as super utilizers—people with complex health needs and socioeconomic challenges who have very high levels of hospital use. A well-publicized team-based care management model to address the needs of these patients is the hotspotting model pioneered by the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers in New Jersey, first brought to national attention by an article in the New Yorker in 2011. So far, interest in programs to help super utilizers has outpaced the available evidence on their effectiveness.