Importance: Although there is a growing recognition that older adults and those with extensive comorbid conditions undergo cancer screening too frequently, there is little information about patients' perceptions regarding cessation of cancer screening. Information on older adults' views of screening cessation would be helpful both for clinicians and for those designing interventions to reduce overscreening.Objective: To obtain a deeper understanding of older adults' perspectives on screening cessation and their experiences communicating with clinicians about this topic.Design: Semistructured interview study.Setting: Senior health center affiliated with an urban hospital. Participants:We interviewed 33 older adults presenting to a senior health center. Their median age was 76 years (range, 63-91 years). Of the 33 participants, 27 were women; 15 were African American, 16 were white, 1 was Asian, and 1 was American Indian. Main Outcome Measures:We transcribed audio recordings of interviews and analyzed them using methods of grounded theory to identify themes and illustrative quotes.Results: Undergoing screening tests was perceived by participants as morally obligatory. Although many saw continued screening as a habit or custom not involving any decision, cessation of screening would require a major decision. Many asserted that they had never discussed screening cessation with their physicians or considered stopping on their own; some reported being upset when their physician recommended stopping. Although some would accept a physician's strong recommendation to stop, others thought that such a physician's recommendation would threaten trust or lead them to get another opinion. Participants were skeptical about the role of statistics and the recommendations of government panels in screening decisions but were more favorable toward stopping because of the balance of risks and benefits, complications, or test burdens.Conclusions and Relevance: For many older adults, stopping screening is a major decision, but continuing screening is not. A physician's recommendation to stop may threaten patient trust. Effective strategies to reduce nonbeneficial screening may include discussion of the balance of risks and benefits, complications, or burdens.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The Optimizing Patient Transfers, Impacting Medical Quality, and Improving Symptoms: Transforming Institutional Care (OPTIMISTIC) project aims to reduce avoidable hospitalizations of long-stay residents enrolled in 19 central Indiana nursing facilities. This clinical demonstration project, funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovations Center, places a registered nurse in each nursing facility to implement an evidence-based quality improvement program with clinical support from nurse practitioners. A description of the model is presented, and early implementation experiences during the first year of the project are reported. Important elements include better medical care through implementation of Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers tools and chronic care management, enhanced transitional care, and better palliative care with a focus on systematic advance care planning. There were 4,035 long-stay residents in 19 facilities enrolled in OPTIMISTIC between February 2013 and January 2014. Root-cause analyses were performed for all 910 acute transfers of these long stay residents. Of these transfers, the project RN evaluated 29% as avoidable (57% were not avoidable and 15% were missing), and opportunities for quality improvement were identified in 54% of transfers. Lessons learned in early implementation included defining new clinical roles, integrating into nursing facility culture, managing competing facility priorities, communicating with multiple stakeholders, and developing a system for collecting and managing data. The success of the overall initiative will be measured primarily according to reduction in avoidable hospitalizations of long-stay nursing facility residents.

OBJECTIVES To determine the extent to which hospice and nonhospice palliative care (PC) programs provide services to patients with dementia and to describe barriers and facilitators to providing nonhospice PC. DESIGN Telephone and Web-based surveys. SETTING U.S. hospice and PC programs from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s program list. PARTICIPANTS Executive directors of 240 hospice programs, 173 programs providing hospice and nonhospice PC, and 13 programs providing nonhospice PC. MEASUREMENTS A telephone survey of hospice and PC providers followed by an online survey of programs providing nonhospice PC. RESULTS Ninety-four percent of hospices and 72% of PC programs had served at least one patient with a primary diagnosis of dementia within the past year. Based on 80 responses to the online survey, the most highly rated barriers to providing PC were lack of awareness of PC by families and referring providers, need for respite services, and reimbursement policies. Highly rated needs were family information, assistance with caregiver burden, and behavioral symptoms. Strategies critical for success were an interdisciplinary team, collaboration with community organizations, and alternatives to aggressive end-of-life care. CONCLUSION Almost all hospices and a majority of nonhospice PC programs serve patients with dementia. Education and policy efforts should focus on education for families and providers, support for caregivers, and reforming reimbursement structures to provide coverage for interdisciplinary PC earlier in the disease, when patients have high needs but are not hospice eligible.

Objectives To describe the perspectives of family caregivers toward stopping cancer screening tests for their relative with dementia and identify opportunities to reduce harmful or unnecessary screening. Design Focus group study Setting Alzheimer’s Association support groups for family members of patients with dementia. Participants Four focus groups including 32 caregivers with mean age 65.5 years (range 49–85 years). There were 25 women; 24 were white, 7 African American and 1 African American/Indian. Measurements Focus group manuscripts were transcribed and analyzed using methods of grounded theory. Results Caregivers considered decisions to stop cancer screening in terms of quality of life and the burdens on the patient and caregiver. Many describe having to intervene in the patient’s care to stop unnecessary or harmful screening, and others met resistance when they advocated for stopping. Physicians varied widely in their knowledge of dementia care and willingness to consider cessation of screening. Conclusion Many family caregivers wish to stop cancer screening tests as dementia progresses, and are relieved when physicians bring it up. Caregivers are open to discussions of screening cessation that focus on quality of life, burdens and benefits. Interventions are needed to increase caregiver/clinician discussion of screening cessation and to increase clinician awareness of the need to reconsider cancer screening in patients with dementia.

Optimizing Patient Transfers, Impacting Medical Quality, and Improving Symptoms: Transforming Institutional Care (OPTIMISTIC) is a 2-phase Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovations demonstration project now testing a novel Medicare Part B payment model for nursing facilities and practitioners in 40 Indiana nursing facilities. The new payment codes are intended to promote high-quality care in place for acutely ill long-stay residents. The focus of the initiative is to reduce hospitalizations through the diagnosis and on-site management of 6 common acute clinical conditions (linked to a majority of potentially avoidable hospitalizations of nursing facility residents): pneumonia, urinary tract infection, skin infection, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma, and dehydration. This article describes the OPTIMISTIC Phase 2 model design, nursing facility and practitioner recruitment and training, and early experiences implementing new Medicare payment codes for nursing facilities and practitioners. Lessons learned from the OPTIMISTIC experience may be useful to others engaged in multicomponent quality improvement initiatives.

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Background An ambulatory safety net (ASN) is an innovative organizational intervention for addressing patient safety related to missed and delayed diagnoses of abnormal test results. ASNs consist of a set of tools, reports and registries, and associated workflows to create a high-reliability system for abnormal test result management. Methods Two ASNs implemented at an academic medical center are described, one focusing on colon cancer and the other on lung cancer. Data from electronic registries and chart reviews were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the ASNs, which were defined as follows: colon cancer—the proportion of patients who were scheduled for or completed a colonoscopy following safety net team outreach to the patient; lung cancer—the proportion of patients for whom the safety net was able to identify and implement appropriate follow-up, as defined by scheduled or completed chest CT. Results The effectiveness of the colon cancer ASN was 44.0%, and the effectiveness of the lung cancer ASN was 56.9%. The ASNs led to the development of registries to address patient safety, fostered collaboration among interdisciplinary teams of clinicians and administrative staff, and created new workflows for patient outreach and tracking. Conclusion Two ASNs were successfully implemented at an academic medical center to address missed and delayed recognition of abnormal test results related to colon cancer and lung cancer. The ASNs are providing a framework for development of additional safety nets in the organization.