High acuity medicine

High acuity medicine refers to medical interventions designed to treat seriously ill patients used in the hospital, emergency department, assisted care facilities, or other medically staffed specialized settings. They also include complex outpatient products that require specialized means of administration, exceptional vigilance in monitoring or which are for extremely serious or rare diseases as defined by the Orphan Drug Act.

High acuity medicine is delivered in a variety of treatment settings, most of which differ sharply from traditional outpatient markets.

CareMore began using employed physician hospitalists in the mid-1990s, after which their role expanded to include the treatment of patients outside the hospital. Known as "extensivists" and supported by sophisticated information technology systems, these physicians generally split their time between the hospital, where they round on a small group of members each day, and an outpatient clinic, where they see recently discharged and other members at high risk of admission. Once or twice a week, these physicians also see members in skilled nursing facilities. The program reduced readmission rates and has led to lower length of stay and below-average inpatient utilization in a high-acuity population.