This review suggests that adhering to current CPGs in caring for an older person with several comorbidities may have undesirable effects. Basing standards for quality of care and pay for performance on existing CPGs could lead to inappropriate judgment of the care provided to older individuals with complex comorbidities and could create perverse incentives that emphasize the wrong aspects of care for this population and diminish the quality of their care. Developing measures of the quality of the care needed by older patients with complex comorbidities is critical to improving their care.

No abstract

Eight easily ascertained risk factors affect elders' probability of being hospitalized repeatedly within four years. In the future, brief surveys about the presence of these factors could be used to estimate elders' risk of future hospitalization and, thereby, to identify some of those who may derive the greatest benefit from interventions designed to avert the need for hospitalization.

The quality of chronic care in America is low, and the cost is high. To help inform efforts to overhaul the ailing U.S. healthcare system, including those related to the "medical home," models of comprehensive health care that have shown the potential to improve the quality, efficiency, or health-related outcomes of care for chronically ill older persons were identified. Using multiple indexing terms, the MEDLINE database was searched for articles published in English between January 1, 1987, and May 30, 2008, that reported statistically significant positive outcomes from high-quality research on models of comprehensive health care for older persons with chronic conditions. Each selected study addressed a model of comprehensive health care; was a meta-analysis, systematic review, or trial with an equivalent concurrent control group; included an adequate number of representative, chronically ill participants aged 65 and older; used valid measures; used reliable methods of data collection; analyzed data rigorously; and reported significantly positive effects on the quality, efficiency, or health-related outcomes of care. Of 2,714 identified articles, 123 (4.5%) met these criteria. Fifteen models have improved at least one outcome: interdisciplinary primary care (1), models that supplement primary care (8), transitional care (1), models of acute care in patients' homes (2), nurse-physician teams for residents of nursing homes (1), and models of comprehensive care in hospitals (2). Policy makers and healthcare leaders should consider including these 15 models of health care in plans to reform the U.S. healthcare system. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would need new statutory flexibility to pay for care by the nurses, social workers, pharmacists, and physicians who staff these promising models.

These findings suggest that PDE and SES factors are associated with early readmission. Considering these findings may enhance the targeting of pre-discharge and postdischarge interventions to avert early readmission. Such interventions may include home health services, patient activation, and comprehensive discharge planning.

In the future, the primary prevention or effective treatment of cerebrovascular disease, arthritis, and possibly coronary artery disease may produce a modest reduction in the incidence of severe functional limitation.

Background The effect of interdisciplinary primary care teams on the use of health services by patients with multiple chronic conditions is uncertain. This study aimed to measure the effect of guided care teams on multimorbid older patients’ use of health services. Methods Eligible patients from 3 health care systems in the Baltimore, Maryland–Washington, DC, area were cluster-randomized to receive guided care or usual care for 20 months between November 1, 2006, and June 30, 2008. Eight services of a guided care nurse working in partnership with patients’ primary care physicians were provided: comprehensive assessment, evidence-based care planning, monthly monitoring of symptoms and adherence, transitional care, coordination of health care professionals, support for self-management, support for family caregivers, and enhanced access to community services. Outcome measures were frequency of use of emergency departments, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, primary care physician services, and specialty physician services. Results The study included 850 older patients at high risk for using health care heavily in the future. The only statistically significant overall effect of guided care in the whole sample was a reduction in episodes of home health care (odds ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval, 0.53–0.93). In a preplanned analysis, guided care also reduced skilled nursing facility admissions (odds ratio, 0.53; 95% confidence interval,0.31–0.89) and days (0.48; 0.28–0.84) among Kaiser-Permanente patients. Conclusions Guided care reduces the use of home health care but has little effect on the use of other health services in the short run. Its positive effect on Kaiser-Permanente patients’ use of skilled nursing facilities and other health services is intriguing. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00121940

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of a new model of health care designed to improve the quality of life and the efficiency of resource use for older adults with multimorbidity. Design and Methods: Guided Care enhances primary care by infusing the operative principles of seven chronic care innovations: disease management, self-management, case management, lifestyle modification, transitional care, caregiver education and support, and geriatric evaluation and management. To practice Guided Care, a registered nurse completes an educational program and uses a customized electronic health record in working with two to five primary care physicians to meet the health care needs of 50 to 60 older patients with multimorbidity. For each patient, the nurse performs a standardized comprehensive home assessment and then collaborates with the physician, the patient, and the caregiver to create two comprehensive, evidencebased management plans: a Care Guide for health care professionals, and an Action Plan for the patient and caregiver. Based in the primary care office, the nurse then regularly monitors the patient's chronic conditions, coaches the patient in self-management, coordinates the efforts of all involved health care professionals, smoothes the patient's transitions between sites of care, provides education and support for family caregivers, and facilitates access to community resources. -Results: A 1-year pilot test in a community-based primary care practice suggested that Guided Care is feasible and acceptable to physicians, patients, and caregivers. Implications: If successful in a controlled trial, Guided Care could improve the quality of life and efficiency of health care for older adults with multimorbidity.