reports

Chapter 4: Effects of multimorbidity on healthcare resource use

In: Mercer SW, Salisbury C, Fortin M, ed. ABC of multimorbidity. Chichester, UK: Wiley:12-16.

Haifa University, Haifa, Israel; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

OVERVIEW

• People with multimorbidity consume a disproportionately large share of healthcare resources

• Greater resource consumption is the result of not only greater need because of the accumulation of chronic diseases but also interactions and synergies between conditions present within individuals

• Multimorbidity measures have been shown to explain large variations (across populations/individual clinicians/healthcare organizations) in use of a range of healthcare resources – including inpatient services, specialized care, primary care and medications

• Multimorbidity has important implications for resource allocation within health systems as well as for care management programmes targeted at improving care and increasing care efficiency for high-risk multimorbid patients.