Reducing potentially preventable hospital transfers: results from a thirty nursing home collaborative

BackgroundNursing home (NH) residents experience frequent hospital transfers, some potentially avoidable. The objective of this report is to describe a replication of the Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers program among member facilities of a New York City area NH provider association (INTERACT NY) and estimate its effect on hospital transfers.MethodsINTERACT is a program that provides tools and strategies to assist NH staff in early identification, communication, and documentation of changes in resident status. Funding was obtained from a New York State health workforce training grant to conduct 13 INTERACT education and training sessions in 2010–2011. INTERACT NY session topics included the implementation process; use of its simple standardized communication tools, advance care planning tools, care paths, and change in condition support tools; quality review of hospital transfers; exercises for refining clinical skills; teamwork; and lessons learned. Sessions engaged NH executives, department heads, front-line nursing staff and their labor union, and staff from NHs’ partner hospitals. Pre-/post- INTERACT NY hospitalization rates per 1000-resident days were compared using paired t-tests, stratified by level of facility engagement with the program and by baseline hospitalization rates.ResultsAll 100% of participating NHs were non-profit or public. Those with complete evaluation data had 377 beds on average. There were a total of 333 attendees of the program (mean 25.6 per session; mean 11.1 per facility over the course of the program; range 1–44 per facility). The most common attendees in order of frequency were (1) nurse administrators, (2) unit-based nurses, (3) medical directors and attending physicians, (4) nursing home administrators, (5) certified nursing assistants, and (6) case managers and social workers. Sixteen nursing homes implemented at least one INTERACT tool. Overall, there was a nonsignificant 10.6% reduction in hospital admissions from 4.07 to 3.64 per 1000 resident-days from pre- to post-INTERACT NY (P = .332). Among nursing homes with high engagement there was a nonsignificant 14.3% reduction in hospital admissions from 4.19 to 3.59 per 1000 resident-days (P = 0.213). Finally, among nursing homes in the highest tertile of baseline (pre-INTERACT NY) hospital admission rate, there was a nonsignificant 27.2% reduction in hospital admissions from 7.32 to 5.33 per 1000 resident-days (P = .102). Planning and implementation lessons from INTERACT NY leaders and participants are reported.ConclusionsINTERACT NY, a novel collaborative training program, resulted in good uptake of the INTERACT tools and processes among its member nursing homes. Changes in hospitalization rates associated with INTERACT NY were similar to those observed in previous implementations of INTERACT. The program addresses a growing interest in reducing potentially preventable hospital admissions among nursing home residents and providing alternatives to hospital care through standardized approaches to communication, early identification of clinical issues, decision-support, and support for partnerships between acute and post-acute care providers.     

Rurality and nursing home quality: results from a national sample of nursing home admissions

OBJECTIVES: We examined differences in quality of care among nursing homes in locales of varying degrees of rurality. METHODS: We classified locales into 4 classes according to rurality. We analyzed a 10% sample of nursing home admissions in the United States in 2000 (n=198613) to estimate survival models for 9 quality indicators. RESULTS: For postacute admissions, we observed significant differences in rates of decline for residents in facilities in large towns compared with urban areas, but differences in quality were both negative and positive. Among admissions for long-term or chronic care, rates of decline in 2 of 9 quality areas were lower for residents in isolated areas. CONCLUSIONS: We observed significant differences in a number of quality indicators among different classes of nursing home locations, but differences varied dramatically according to type of admission. These differences did not exhibit the monotonicity that we would have expected had they derived solely from rurality. Also, quality indicators exhibited more similarities than differences across the 4 classes of locales. The results underscore the importance, in some instances, of emphasizing the effects of specific settings rather than some continuum of rurality and of moving beyond the assumption that nursing home residents constitute a homogeneous population.     

Changes in Medicare skilled nursing facility benefit admissions

In this article, the changes in Medicare skilled nursing facility (SNF) benefit admissions from 1983 through 1985 are examined and factors that influence changes in access since the implementation of Medicare's prospective payment system are analyzed. During this period, use of the SNF benefit increased nationally by 21 percent. Multivariate analysis is used to determine factors associated with changes in admissions. Changes in SNF benefit admissions were found to be negatively associated with changes in area hospitals' lengths of stay and changes in hospitals' discharges. Medicaid reimbursement policies were also shown to affect changes in utilization.     

Validation of a method for identifying nursing home admissions using administrative claims

Background  

Currently there is no standard algorithm to identify whether a subject is residing in a nursing home from administrative claims. Our objective was to develop and validate an algorithm that identifies nursing home admissions at the resident-month level using the MarketScan Medicare Supplemental and Coordination of Benefit (COB) database.     

Additional reimbursement for outpatient physicians treating nursing home residents reduces avoidable hospital admissions: Results of a reimbursement change in Germany

Potentially avoidable hospitalizations of nursing home residents are costly and may even be harmful for the residents concerned. This study analyzes whether the introduction, in Germany in 2016, of an additional reimbursement for outpatient care physicians treating nursing home residents has led to a reduction in hospital admissions. This analysis exploits the introduction of the additional reimbursement in a difference-in-difference approach, using recipients of professional home care as a control. The analysis is based on claims data from the largest German sickness fund, which provide complete information on health care and long-term care utilization for each insured person. Our analysis highlights a 5-percent reduction in overall hospital stays and an 8-percent reduction in ambulatory care-sensitive admissions as a result of the additional reimbursements. However, we found no effect for short-term hospital admissions or for admissions at night or at the weekend. We conclude that the overall health care utilization for nursing home patients seems to have improved due to an increased presence of physicians in nursing homes during daytime working hours. Thus, an additional reimbursement for outpatient care physicians seems to be an effective tool to reduce potentially avoidable hospital admissions in the nursing home sector. However, it does not appear to improve emergency care utilization, especially out-of-hour.     

Reducing antihypertensive medication use in nursing home patients

Of the 1.5 million nursing home residents, about 40% are aged 85 years or older, and a similar percentage have hypertension. The rates of incorrect diagnoses from the "white coat" effect and from errors in blood pressure evaluation are as frequent in older persons as in younger persons. The benefits of antihypertensive treatment and the risks of lowering blood pressures in the very old (> or = 85 years) are uncertain. Elderly patients experience adverse effects from drug treatment that are unique to their age group and that complicate management problems associated with polypharmacy and multiple comorbid conditions. Trials to withdraw or lower the dosage of antihypertensive medications have been successful in up to 40% of elderly persons when combined with salt restriction and weight loss, but such studies are lacking in nursing home patients. The management of hypertension should be reevaluated in nursing home patients.     

First nursing home admissions: time spent at home and in institutions after discharge.

We tracked 96 percent of a sample of 1,942 nursing home patients admitted to a nursing home for the first time in 1982-83. Patients discharged alive from the nursing home were followed for two years or until death. The relative time spent at home, in hospitals, and in skilled nursing facilities is reported. Of the 705 patients discharged from their initial nursing home admission to homes in the community, about 50 percent made only one transfer and only 15 percent made four or more transfers. Of the 509 discharged to a hospital, 26 percent died there and 37 percent of the 374 survivors made four or more moves in the next two years. In all, 1,332 patients were discharged alive and they spent almost two-thirds of the subsequent two years, or their remaining lifetimes, in the community. Of those who transferred only once, over two-thirds of their follow-up time was spent in their own homes. Policies concerned with long-term care should use some type of actuarial data base to successfully plan and implement long-term care insurance.     

Admission of nursing home residents to a hospital internal medicine department

ObjectiveHospitalization of nursing home residents is costly and potentially exposes residents to iatrogenic disease and psychological harm.Design and SettingIn this study, we analyzed the data from the Basic Minimum Data Set of patients hospitalized from the nursing home who were discharged from all the internal medicine departments at the National Health Service hospitals in Spain between 2005 and 2008, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs.ResultsBetween January 2005 and December 2008, 2,134,363 patients were admitted to internal medicine departments in Spain, of whom 45,757 (2.1%) were nursing home residents. Overall, 7898 (17.3%) patients died during hospitalization, 2442 (30.91%) of them in the first 48 hours. The following variables were the significant predictors of in-hospital mortality in multivariate analysis: age (odds ratio [OR] 1.02, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.02–1.03), female gender (OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.13–1.17), dementia (OR 1.09, 95% CI 1.03–1.16), previous feeding tube (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.09–1.79), malignant disease (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.86–2.23), acute infectious disease (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.12–1.25), pressure sores (OR 1.88, 95% CI 1.62–1.95), acute respiratory failure (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.90–2.10), and nosocomial pneumonia (OR 2.5, 95% CI 2.23–2.72).ConclusionsTwo of every 100 patients admitted to internal medicine departments came from nursing homes. The rate of mortality is very high in these patients, with almost one third of patients dying in the first 48 hours, which suggests that many of these transfers were unnecessary. The cost of these admissions for 1 year was equivalent to the annual budget of a 300- to 400-bed public hospital in Spain. The mechanism of coordination between nursing homes and public hospitals must be reviewed with the aim of containing costs and facilitating the care of patients in the last days of life.     

Interactions between hospital and nursing home use.

National estimates are provided, for the first time, of the number of hospitalizations in a year for elderly persons who also experience some nursing home use, and patterns for this interaction are described. In 1987, 816,000 persons were transferred from nursing homes to hospitals, constituting 8.5 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions for persons ages 65 and older. Another 347,000 hospital stays involved people admitted from the community and discharged to a nursing home. The reporting of discharge destination on Medicare hospital bill data in 1987 also is analyzed. It was found that these data may have underreported a nursing home as the destination by between 15 and 20 percent. The magnitude of hospitalizations of nursing home residents suggests that programs aimed at improving nursing home care might have an important impact on total days of hospital care, and that it is important to learn more about the optimal use of expensive hospital care.     

Nurse-doctor interaction in teleconsultations between a hospital and a geriatric nursing home.

The aim of the present study was to elucidate both the interaction between a doctor and five registered nurses and the problems or tasks dealt with in teleconsultations between a university clinic for geriatric medicine and a nursing home for the elderly in northern Sweden. The interaction and problems or tasks were studied through analyses of video-recorded teleconsultations and through open interviews with the participating staff. The results indicated that teleconsultations between a geriatrician and the nurses at a nursing home for the elderly can be a useful tool for providing medical services. Teleconsultations alter both the 'power-control' and 'practice spheres' for the doctor and the nurses, and must be based on mutual trust. The use of teleconsultations gives the nurse a larger role as the presenter of medical problems, and gives the doctor the role of remote consultant.