Coordinated Medical Care of the Aged by a Modern Home and Hospital for the Aged and General Hospitals

A system of coordinated care for certain disorders by The Jewish Home and Hospital for Aged and adjacent general hospitals is described. Patients requiring surgery, surgical diagnostic procedures, radiotherapy, radioisotopic diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and the insertion and follow‐up of electronic cardiac pacemakers are given inpatient and outpatient care by the general hospital. Coordinated care is insured by full exchange of medical and social information, use of a private ambulance service, free availability of beds and early return to the Home for rehabilitation and after‐care. In most cases, medical care at the general hospital is supervised by specialists with independent appointments on the staff of the Home. In 1970, 199 patients from the Home were given inpatient care in general hospitals; the average length of stay was 11.3 days. Thirty‐nine patients were given outpatient care, with a total of 160 visits. 1972 The American Geriatrics Society