98 Parental perspective on changes in health care following integration to a complex care program

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. e71-e71
Author(s):  
Louis-Philippe Thibault ◽  
Maria Marano ◽  
Lydia Saad ◽  
Nathalie Gaucher ◽  
Karine Couture ◽  
...  

Abstract Primary Subject area Complex Care Background Quantitative studies have found that integration into a complex care program (CCP) leads to decreased number of visits to the emergency department (ED) and hospitalization days for children with medical complexity (CMC). However, little is known about CMC families’ experiences regarding their healthcare resource utilization patterns following their child’s integration in the CCP. Objectives To analyze parental perspectives regarding changes in healthcare resources utilization following CCP admission. Design/Methods This study was conducted in our tertiary care pediatric university hospital, between December 2019 and January 2021 using individual semi-structured interviews. To assess the effect of CCP admission on healthcare resources utilization, only patients with at least 6 months of chronic disease before inclusion were eligible (32 families). The interview guide was co-constructed by our CCP team of nurses, doctors, social worker and parents of CMC. Participation rate was over one third (12/32) throughout, for which a satisfactory level of data saturation was obtained, as core themes specific to the research question were repeatedly identified. Verbatims were analyzed with NVivo. Descriptive thematic analysis was performed by coding themes emerging from the data. Results Sixteen parents from twelve families were interviewed (11 mothers, 5 fathers, including 4 couples). Most parents had experienced a decrease in ED visits with improvement in their perceived satisfaction regarding the provided healthcare services following CCP admission. Visits to the CCP pediatrician led to appreciated, continuous and tailored care. In comparison, the constant change of pediatricians in the ED and during hospitalization on the ward seemed to complicate their care experience. Also, the support from pivot nurses and social workers for daily health issues, drug prescription and paperwork was perceived as a relief. This directly favorably influenced care experience. Profound knowledge of patients’ health conditions and families’ personal challenges and strengths, led to personalized care and trust that greatly improved parents’ confidence in care and empowered families. Individualized advice by the CCP team leading to prompt treatment and preventive measures started early at home were identified by parents as the main driving forces leading to the observed decrease in ED visits. When hospitalized, confidence in the quality of care provided by parents at home with close follow-up by CCP were identified as the main driving forces leading to the quicker discharge. Conclusion Changes in health care utilization following admission to CCP was associated with an improved care experience. Parents identified individualized care and close follow-ups as key factors leading to decreased health care utilization.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiting Wang ◽  
Rupa Makadia ◽  
Christopher Knoll ◽  
Jill Hardin ◽  
Erica A. Voss ◽  
...  

Abstract Background There has been a more pronounced shift toward earlier, more aggressive therapies in Crohn’s disease than in ulcerative colitis (UC). The aim of this study was to describe the pre-biologic treatment and health care experience, including co-morbidities and overall health care utilization, for UC patients who initiated biologic therapies, in the 5 years prior to the initiation of the first biologic agent. Methods UC patients who initiated a biologic agent approved for UC between 9/15/2005 and 1/30/2018 were identified from the IBM® MarketScan® Commercial Database, a large US database. The date of the first recorded UC biologic exposure was defined as the index date, and ≥ 5 years of pre-index records were required to evaluate patients’ treatment, disease progression and overall health care utilization prior to initiating biologic agents. Results Among the 1891 eligible patients, treatment with oral corticosteroids, 5-aminosalicylates, and other non-biologic immunomodulators, all increased progressively across the 5 years prior to the index. From within year-five to within year-one prior to the index, the median duration of oral corticosteroid treatment increased from 34 to 88 days per year and the proportion of patients who experienced more extensive/pancolitis disease increased from 16 to 59%. Overall, the frequency of all-cause health care visits also increased. Conclusions Patients with UC experienced increasing morbidity and treatment burden in the 5 years prior to initiating biologic therapy. To achieve reduced corticosteroids in UC management, better risk stratification is needed to help identify patients for more timely biologic treatment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 179 (2) ◽  
pp. 161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee A. Jennings ◽  
Alison M. Laffan ◽  
Anna C. Schlissel ◽  
Erin Colligan ◽  
Zaldy Tan ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-256
Author(s):  
Lacey B. Robinson ◽  
Anna Chen Arroyo ◽  
Rebecca E. Cash ◽  
Susan A. Rudders ◽  
Carlos A. Camargo

Background and Objective: Allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, are rising among children. Little is known about health care utilization among infants and toddlers. Our objective was to characterize health care utilization and charges for acute allergic reactions (AAR). Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of trends in emergency department (ED) visits and revisits, hospitalizations and rehospitalizations, and charges among infants and toddlers (ages < 3 years), with an index ED visit or hospitalization for AAR (including anaphylaxis). We used data from population-based multipayer data: State Emergency Department Databases and State Inpatient Databases from New York and Nebraska. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with ED revisits and rehospitalizations. Results: Between 2006 and 2015, infant and toddler ED visits for AAR increased from 27.8 per 10,000 population to 35.2 (Ptrend < 0.001), whereas hospitalizations for AAR remained stable (Ptrend = 0.11). In the one year after an index AAR visit, 5.1% of these patients had at least one AAR ED revisit and 5.9% had at least one AAR rehospitalization. Factors most strongly associated with AAR ED revisits included an index visit hospitalization and receipt of epinephrine. Total charges for AAR ED visits (2009‐2015) and hospitalizations (2011‐2015) were more than $29 million and $11 million, respectively. Total charges increased more than fourfold for both AAR ED revisits for AAR rehospitalizations during the study period. Conclusion: Infants and toddlers who presented with an AAR were at risk for ED revisits and rehospitalizations for AAR within the following year. The charges associated with these revisits were substantial and seemed to be increasing.


2021 ◽  
Vol Publish Ahead of Print ◽  
Author(s):  
Gil Y. Melmed ◽  
Brant Oliver ◽  
Jason K. Hou ◽  
Donald Lum ◽  
Siddharth Singh ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (s1) ◽  
pp. 91-91
Author(s):  
Frances Loretta Gill

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Elucidate the unique challenges associated with hospital discharge planning for patients experiencing homelessness. Assess the impact of robust community partnerships and strong referral pathways on participating patients’ health care utilization patterns in an interdisciplinary, student-run hospital consult service for patients experiencing homelessness. Identify factors (both patient-level and intervention-level) that are associated with successful warm hand-offs to outside social agencies at discharge. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: To assess the impact of participation in HHL on patients’ health care utilization, we conducted a medical records review using the hospital’s electronic medical record system comparing patients’ health care utilization patterns during the nine months pre- and post- HHL intervention. Utilization metrics included number of ED visits and hospital admissions, number of hospital days, 30-day hospital readmissions, total hospital costs, and follow-up appointment attendance rates, as well as percentage of warm hand-offs to community-based organizations upon discharge. Additionally, we collected data regarding patient demographics, duration of homelessness, and characteristics of homelessness (primarily sheltered versus primarily unsheltered, street homeless versus couch surfing, etc) and intervention outcome data (i.e. percentage of warm hand-offs). This study was reviewed and approved by the Tulane University Institutional Review Board and the University Medical Center Research Review Committee. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: For the first 41 patients who have been enrolled in HHL, participation in HHL is associated with a statistically significant decrease in hospital admissions by 49.4% (p < 0.01) and hospital days by 47.7% (p < 0.01). However, the intervention is associated with a slight, although not statistically significant, increase in emergency department visits. Additionally, we have successfully accomplished warm hand-offs at discharge for 71% percent of these patients. Over the next year, many more patients will be enrolled in HHL, which will permit a more finely grained assessment to determine which aspects of the HHL intervention are most successful in facilitating warm hand-offs and decreased health care utilization amongst patients experiencing homelessness. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Providing care to patients experiencing homelessness involves working within complex social problems that cannot be adequately addressed in a hospital setting. This is best accomplished with an interdisciplinary team that extends the care continuum beyond hospital walls. The HHL program coordinators believe that ED visits amongst HHL patients and percentage of warm hand-offs are closely related outcomes. If we are able to facilitate a higher percentage of warm hand-offs to supportive social service agencies, we may be able to decrease patient reliance on the emergency department as a source of health care, meals, and warmth. Identifying the factors associated with successful warm hand-offs upon discharge from the hospital may assist us in building on the HHL program’s initial successes to further decrease health care utilization while offering increased interdisciplinary educational opportunities for medical students.


2018 ◽  
Vol 133 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingning Wang ◽  
Hai-Yen Sung ◽  
Tingting Yao ◽  
James Lightwood ◽  
Wendy Max

Objectives: Cigar use in the United States is a growing public health concern because of its increasing popularity. We estimated health care utilization and expenditures attributable to cigar smoking among US adults aged ≥35. Methods: We analyzed data on 84 178 adults using the 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 National Health Interview Surveys. We estimated zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) regression models on hospital nights, emergency department (ED) visits, physician visits, and home-care visits as a function of tobacco use status—current sole cigar smokers (ie, smoke cigars only), current poly cigar smokers (smoke cigars and smoke cigarettes or use smokeless tobacco), former sole cigar smokers (used to smoke cigars only), former poly cigar smokers (used to smoke cigars and smoke cigarettes or use smokeless tobacco), other tobacco users (ever smoked cigarettes and used smokeless tobacco but not cigars), and never tobacco users (never smoked cigars, smoked cigarettes, or used smokeless tobacco)—and other covariates. We calculated health care utilization attributable to current and former sole cigar smoking based on the estimated ZIP models, and then we calculated total health care expenditures attributable to cigar smoking. Results: Current and former sole cigar smoking was associated with excess annual utilization of 72 137 hospital nights, 32 748 ED visits, and 420 118 home-care visits. Annual health care expenditures attributable to sole cigar smoking were $284 million ($625 per sole cigar smoker), and total annual health care expenditures attributable to sole and poly cigar smoking were $1.75 billion. Conclusions: Comprehensive tobacco control policies and interventions are needed to reduce cigar smoking and the associated health care burden.


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 2909-2918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuokai Li ◽  
Hai Liu ◽  
Wanzhu Tu

Health care utilization is an outcome of interest in health services research. Two frequently studied forms of utilization are counts of emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions. These counts collectively convey a sense of disease exacerbation and cost escalation. Different types of event counts from the same patient form a vector of correlated outcomes. Traditional analysis typically model such outcomes one at a time, ignoring the natural correlations between different events, and thus failing to provide a full picture of patient care utilization. In this research, we propose a multivariate semiparametric modeling framework for the analysis of multiple health care events following the exponential family of distributions in a longitudinal setting. Bivariate nonparametric functions are incorporated to assess the concurrent nonlinear influences of independent variables as well as their interaction effects on the outcomes. The smooth functions are estimated using the thin plate regression splines. A maximum penalized likelihood method is used for parameter estimation. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated through simulation studies. To illustrate the method, we analyzed data from a clinical trial in which ED visits and hospital admissions were considered as bivariate outcomes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (9) ◽  
pp. 1097-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
John V Lavigne ◽  
Kathryn Mendelsohn Meyers

Abstract Objective To examine the association of psychological factors and pediatric health care utilization. Method Ovid Medline and PsychInfo were searched and archival and forward searchers were conducted of relevant articles. Studies of the association between psychological risk factors and pediatric health care utilization of outpatient services, emergency department, inpatient length of stay, and costs were identified. Effect sizes were expressed in the form of the standardized mean difference. From 4,546 studies identified in the search, 69 studies met inclusion criteria. Results There were significant low-moderate associations between higher outpatient visits and general child mental health (MH) problems (mean ES [mES] = 0.35), overall psychopathology (mES = 0.44), and internalizing symptoms (mES = 0.16). Results were significant for any parent MH problem (mES = 0.18). For emergency department (ED) visits, there were significant association between more ED visits and any child MH problems (mES = 0.25), internalizing symptoms (mES = 0.24), externalizing symptoms (mES = 0.16), and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (mES= 0.14), as well as parent MH (mES = 0.24) and maternal depression (mES = 0.21). Increased hospitalizations were associated with any child MH problem (mES = 0.3), overall child psychopathology (mES = 0.49), child depression (ES = 0.41), and any parent MH problem (mES = 0.54). For costs, results were significant for any child MH problem (mES = 0.38). Conclusions Child and parent MH problems are significantly associated with increased HCU.


2021 ◽  
pp. JCO.20.03609
Author(s):  
Kathi Mooney ◽  
Karen Titchener ◽  
Benjamin Haaland ◽  
Lorinda A. Coombs ◽  
Brock O'Neil ◽  
...  

PURPOSE Patients with cancer experience high rates of morbidity and unplanned health care utilization and may benefit from new models of care. We evaluated an adult oncology hospital at home program's rate of unplanned hospitalizations and health care costs and secondarily, emergency department (ED) use, length of hospital stays, and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions during the 30 days after enrollment. METHODS We conducted a prospective, nonrandomized, real-world cohort comparison of 367 hospitalized patients with cancer—169 patients consecutively admitted after hospital discharge to Huntsman at Home (HH), a hospital-at-home program, compared with 198 usual care patients concurrently identified at hospital discharge. All patients met clinical criteria for HH admission, but those in usual care lived outside the HH service area. Primary outcomes were the number of unplanned hospitalizations and costs during the 30 days after enrollment. Secondary outcomes included length of hospital stays, ICU admissions, and ED visits during the 30 days after enrollment. RESULTS Groups were comparable except that more women received HH care. In propensity-weighted analyses, the odds of unplanned hospitalizations was reduced in the HH group by 55% (odds ratio, 0.45, 95% CI, 0.29 to 0.70; P < .001) and health care costs were 47% lower (mean cost ratio, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.72; P < .001) over the 30-day period. Secondary outcomes also favored HH. Total hospital stay days were reduced by 1.1 days ( P = .004) and ED visits were reduced by 45% (odds ratio, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.33 to 0.92; P = .022). There was no evidence of a difference in ICU admissions ( P = .972). CONCLUSION This oncology hospital at home program shows initial promise as a model for oncology care that may lower unplanned health care utilization and health care costs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 751-758
Author(s):  
Stephanie A Hooker ◽  
Paul Stadem ◽  
Michelle D Sherman ◽  
Jason Ricco

Abstract Background Mounting evidence suggests that loneliness increases the risk of poor health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease and premature mortality.Objective: This study examined the prevalence of loneliness in an urban, underserved family medicine residency clinic and the association of loneliness with health care utilization. Methods Adult patients (N = 330; M age = 42.1 years, SD = 14.9; 63% female; 58% African American) completed the 3-item UCLA Loneliness screener at their primary care visits between November 2018 and January 2019. A retrospective case–control study design was used to compare health care utilization [hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits, primary care visits, no-shows and referrals] in the prior 2 years between patients who identified as lonely versus those who did not. Covariates included demographics and clinical characteristics. Results Nearly half (44%) of patients exceeded the cut-off for loneliness. Patients who were lonely were more likely to identify as African American, have depression and have a substance use disorder. Patients in the lonely group had significantly longer hospital stays and more primary care visits, no-shows and referrals than patients in the non-lonely group; there were no differences in number of hospitalizations or ED visits. Conclusions The prevalence of loneliness in an urban, underserved primary care clinic was much higher than prior prevalence estimates in primary care. Patients who are lonely may use more health care resources than patients who are not lonely. Primary care may be an ideal setting in which to identify patients who are lonely to further understand the impact of loneliness on health care outcomes.


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