The Rochester region has the lowest rate of Medicare health spending in the country, according to a new report from the National Institute of Medicine.
The report shows that Medicare spending in the Rochester area was lower than 305 other regional markets and $174 less per month than the median rate.
Dr. Jamie Kerr, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Utilization Management at Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield says there are several factors that contributed to the ranking. " The two domains in which utilization was lower were acute care, hospital care, and most importantly, post-hospital care--the kind that prevents hospital readmission."
Dr. Kerr attributes the relatively low Medicare costs to a community-wide collaboration over the past two decades between the medical community, employee groups and non profit organizations.
The report showed that other upstate regions were among the lowest 10 percent of the markets measured, including Buffalo, Syracuse, Binghamton and Elmira.
