In primary care, 1 dollar spent on nutrition interventions can save up to 99 dollars by reducing medication use, hospitalizations and freeing up physician time.
Since January 2012, a Quebec hospital has been conducting nutrition screening among several clientele: shelters, preadmission clinics, one-stop access services for persons with reduced autonomy, routine services at CSLCs, and hospital inpatients. If screening shows overt malnutrition or a moderate to high risk of malnutrition, a request is sent to a nutritionist, who makes a thorough assessment of the individual’s nutritional status, creates a personalized nutritional care plan and then monitors his/her nutritional status. The objective is to intervene early to minimize the risk of malnutrition in our clientele, to prevent or limit the complications associated with malnutrition, to prevent hospitalization in certain cases and/or to reduce the length of hospital stay.