Impact of case management on hospital charges of PWAs in Georgia

To determine the effects of case management in controlling hospital based costs for persons with AIDS (PWAs), a retrospective review of records of deceased PWAs was performed. The study compared diagnosis-to-death hospital charges for PWAs who received care under a care management model (n = 60) with PWAs receiving care within a non-case managed approach (n = 60). Hospital charges were adjusted for inflation. PWAs receiving care within the case managed model had significantly lower hospital-based changes than the non-case managed group. Additionally, PWAs in the case managed group lived significantly longer between HIV diagnosis and death, and lived longer between their first AIDS-related hospital admission and death.