Coaching chronically ill older patients and their caregivers to ensure that their needs are met during care transitions may reduce the rates of subsequent rehospitalization.

OBJECTIVES:To test whether an intervention designed to encourage older patients and their caregivers to assert a more active role during care transitions can reduce rehospitalization rates. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental design whereby subjects receiving the intervention (n 5 158) were compared with control subjects derived from administrative data (n 5 1,235). SETTING: A large integrated delivery system in Colorado. PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older admitted to the study hospital with one of nine selected conditions. INTERVENTION: Intervention subjects received tools to promote cross-site communication, encouragement to take a more active role in their care and assert their preferences, and continuity across settings and guidance from a transition coach. MEASUREMENTS: Rates of postdischarge hospital use at 30, 60, and 90 days. Intervention subjects' care experience was assessed using the care transitions measure. RESULTS: The adjusted odds ratio comparing rehospitalization of intervention subjects with that of controls was 0.52 (95% confidence interval (CI) 5 0.28-0.96) at 30 days, 0.43 (95% CI 5 0.25-0.72) at 90 days, and 0.57 (95% CI 5 0.36-0.92) at 180 days. Intervention patients reported high levels of confidence in obtaining essential information for managing their condition, communicating with members of the healthcare team, and understanding their medication regimen. CONCLUSION: Supporting patients and caregivers to take a more active role during care transitions appears promising for reducing rates of subsequent hospitalization. Further testing may include more diverse populations and patients at risk for transitions who are not acutely ill.

Posthospital care transitions are common among Medicare beneficiaries and patterns of care vary greatly. A significant number of beneficiaries experienced complicated care transitions-a finding that has important implications for both patient safety and cost-containment efforts. Patients at risk for complicated care patterns can be identified using data available at the time of hospital discharge.

A significant percentage of older patients experienced medication discrepancies after making the transition from hospital to home. Both patient-associated and system-associated solutions may be needed to ensure medication safety during this vulnerable period.

BACKGROUND: Chronic opioid therapy for chronic pain treatment has increased. Hospital physicians, including hospitalists and medical/surgical resident physicians, care for many hospitalized patients, yet little is known about opioid prescribing at hospital discharge and future chronic opioid use. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to characterize opioid prescribing at hospital discharge among 'opioid naïve' patients. Opioid naïve patients had not filled an opioid prescription at an affiliated pharmacy 1 year preceding their hospital discharge. We also set out to quantify the risk of chronic opioid use and opioid refills 1 year post discharge among opioid naïve patients with and without opioid receipt at discharge. DESIGN: This was a retrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: From 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011, 6,689 opioid naïve patients were discharged from a safety-net hospital. MAIN MEASURE: Chronic opioid use 1 year post discharge. KEY RESULTS: Twenty-five percent of opioid naïve patients (n=1,688) had opioid receipt within 72 hours of discharge. Patients with opioid receipt were more likely to have diagnoses including neoplasm (6.3 % versus 3.5 %, p<0.001), acute pain (2.7 % versus 1.0 %, p<0.001), chronic pain at admission (12.1 % versus 3.3 %, p<0.001) or surgery during their hospitalization (65.1 % versus 18.4 %, p<0.001) compared to patients without opioid receipt. Patients with opioid receipt were less likely to have alcohol use disorders (15.7 % versus 20.7 %, p<0.001) and mental health disorders (23.9 % versus 31.4 %, p<0.001) compared to patients without opioid receipt. Chronic opioid use 1 year post discharge was more common among patients with opioid receipt (4.1 % versus 1.3 %, p<0.0001) compared to patients without opioid receipt. Opioid receipt was associated with increased odds of chronic opioid use (AOR=4.90, 95 % CI 3.22-7.45) and greater subsequent opioid refills (AOR=2.67, 95 % CI 2.29-3.13) 1 year post discharge compared to no opioid receipt. CONCLUSION:Opioid receipt at hospital discharge among opioid naïve patients increased future chronic opioid use. Physicians should inform patients of this risk prior to prescribing opioids at discharge.

Background In 2009, policy changes were accompanied by a rapid increase in the number of medical marijuana cardholders in Colorado. Little published epidemiological work has tracked changes in the state around this time. Methods Using the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, we tested for temporal changes in marijuana attitudes and marijuana-use-related outcomes in Colorado (2003-2011) and differences within-year between Colorado and thirty-four non-medical-marijuana states (NMMS). Using regression analyses, we further tested whether patterns seen in Colorado prior to (2006-8) and during (2009-11) marijuana commercialization differed from patterns in NMMS while controlling for demographics. Results Within Colorado those reporting “great-risk” to using marijuana 1-2 times/week dropped significantly in all age groups studied between 2007-8 and 2010-11 (e.g. from 45% to 31% among those 26 years and older; p=0.0006). By 2010-11 past-year marijuana abuse/dependence had become more prevalent in Colorado for 12-17 year olds (5% in Colorado, 3% in NMMS; p=0.03) and 18-25 year olds (9% vs. 5%; p=0.02). Regressions demonstrated significantly greater reductions in perceived risk (12-17 year olds, p=0.005; those 26 years and older, p=0.01), and trend for difference in changes in availability among those 26 years and older and marijuana abuse/dependence among 12-17 year olds in Colorado compared to NMMS in more recent years (2009-11 vs. 2006-8). Conclusions Our results show that commercialization of marijuana in Colorado has been associated with lower risk perception. Evidence is suggestive for marijuana abuse/dependence. Analyses including subsequent years 2012+ once available, will help determine whether such changes represent momentary vs. sustained effects.

Objectives Hospital discharges to post-acute care (PAC) facilities have increased rapidly. This increase may lead to more hospital readmissions from PAC facilities, which are common and poorly understood. We sought to determine the risk factors and timing for hospital readmission from PAC facilities and evaluate the impact of readmission on patient outcomes. Design Retrospective analysis of Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) from 2003–2009. Setting The MCBS is a nationally-representative survey of beneficiaries matched with claims data. Participants Community-dwelling beneficiaries who were hospitalized and discharged to a PAC facility for rehabilitation. Intervention/Exposure Potential readmission risk factors included patient demographics, health utilization, active medical conditions at time of PAC admission, and PAC characteristics. Measurements Hospital readmission during the PAC stay, return to community residence, and all-cause mortality. Results Of 3246 acute hospitalizations followed by PAC facility stays, 739 (22.8%) included at least 1 hospital readmission. The strongest risk factors for readmission included impaired functional status (HR 4.78, 95% CI 3.21–7.10), markers of increased acuity such as need for intravenous medications in PAC (1.63, 1.39–1.92), and for-profit PAC ownership (1.43, 1.21–1.69). Readmitted patients had a higher mortality rate at both 30 days (18.9 vs. 8.6%, p<0.001) and 100 days (39.9 vs. 14.5%, p<0.001) even after adjusting for age, comorbidities, and prior health care utilization (30 days: OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.60–2.54; 100 days: OR 3.79, 95% CI 3.13–4.59). Conclusions Hospital readmission from PAC facilities is common and associated with a high mortality rate. Readmission risk factors may signify inadequate transitional care processes or a mismatch between patient needs and PAC resources.

The study objective was to test whether a self-care model for transitional care that has been demonstrated to improve outcomes in Medicare Advantage populations--The Care Transitions Intervention--could also improve outcomes in a Medicare fee-for-service population. Intervention patients were less likely to be readmitted to a hospital in general and for the same condition that prompted their index hospitalization at 30, 90, and 180 days versus control patients. Coaching chronically ill older patients and their caregivers to ensure that their needs are met during care transitions may reduce the rate of subsequent rehospitalization in a Medicare fee-for-service population.