CTM-3 Scores Research Articles

The association between hospital care transition planning and timely primary care follow-up.

To determine whether Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) Care Transitions (CTM-3) Scores were associated with timely (14-day) primary care provider (PCP) follow-up visits, and to look for disparities across various types of urban and rural hospitals. Data were obtained for 3,299 hospitals: 2,000 urban, 544 micropolitan prospective payment system (PPS), 109 micropolitan critical access hospital (CAH), 252 noncore rural PPS, and 394 noncore rural CAH. HCAPPS data were drawn from CMS Hospital Compare (2015). The dependent variable, 14-day PCP follow-up rate for each hospital, was drawn from the 2015 Dartmouth Atlas. In analysis adjusting only for hospital characteristics, higher CTM-3 scores were positively associated with PCP follow-up; however, the relationship was no longer significant after controlling for area-level (contextual) measures, such as percent minority population, percent unemployed, and percent uninsured. In the fully adjusted model, rates of PCP follow-up were significantly higher for micropolitan PPS, noncore PPS, and noncore CAH hospitals than for urban hospitals. In fully adjusted analysis, the lack of significance between CTM-3 scores and PCP follow-up suggests that community characteristics facilitate or impede timely PCP follow-up to an extent that may overshadow in-hospital efforts. Disparities between CAHs and rural PPS hospitals may be due to differing enrollments in quality incentive plans; future research is needed to address this issue. Compounding this issue, the strong negative relationship between percent Medicaid reimbursement (payor mix) and PCP follow-up suggests possible disparities for safety net hospitals.

The Care Transitions Measure-3 Is Only Weakly Associated with Post-discharge Outcomes: a Retrospective Cohort Study in 48,384 Albertans.

The National Quality Forum endorsed a 3-item Care Transitions Measure (CTM-3), part of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, for evaluating hospital care transitions performance. To explore whether CTM-3 scores are a suitable proxy for quality of transitional care. Retrospective cohort study. A random sample of 48,384 adults discharged from medical or surgical wards in all 113 acute care hospitals in Alberta, Canada, between April 2011 and March 2016. CTM-3 scores and their associations with all-cause emergency department (ED) visits or non-elective readmissions at 30days, 3months, and 12months anywhere in the province. CTM-3 scores were significantly lower (all p < 0.01) for females, older patients, those discharged from medical wards or teaching hospitals, and those with longer length of stay, higher Charlson scores, prior ED visits/hospitalizations, or who did not return to independent living after discharge. CTM-3 scores were not significantly associated with outcomes at 30days (mean score 77.5 in those who subsequently had an ED visit/readmission vs. 77.9 in those who did not, p = 0.13, aOR 0.99, 95% CI 0.99-0.99). Although CTM-3 scores were significantly lower in patients who subsequently had ED visit/readmission at 3months (77.5 vs. 78.5) and 12months (77.6 vs. 79.5), the magnitude of risk was small: for every 10 point decrease in the CTM-3 score, the risk of ED visit/readmission was 2.6% higher (aOR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.05) at 3months and 4.0% higher (aOR 1.04, 95% CI 1.01-1.08) at 12months. The CTM-3 score is influenced by baseline patient and hospital factors, is not associated with 30-day post-discharge outcomes, and is only weakly associated with 3- and 12-month outcomes. These findings suggest that the CTM-3 score is not a good performance measure for the quality of transitional care.

Psychometric properties of transitional care instruments and their relationships with health literacy: Brief PREPARED and Care Transitions Measure.

To assess the psychometric properties of the Brief PREPARED (B-PREPARED) and the Care Transitions Measure (CTM) in patients discharged from hospitals in Korea, and examine their relationships with health literacy. A cross-sectional study with a follow-up telephone survey 4 weeks post-discharge. Six medical and surgical wards in a tertiary hospital in Seoul. 293 patients discharged from general wards. Psychometric properties of the Korean versions of the B-PREPARED and the 15- and 3-item CTM (CTM-15 and CTM-3), and the 3-item Brief Screening Questionnaire for health literacy. All instruments discriminated well between patients who were satisfied with hospital care and the discharge process, and those who were not. One month post-discharge, the CTM-15 score was significantly higher in patients with good health status than the others, and the CTM-3 score was significantly higher in patients who used outpatient care than the others. However, no significant difference was found in the scores for all instruments by emergency department visits, rehospitalization, and medication adherence. Cronbach's alpha values were 0.69 for B-PREPARED, 0.91 for CTM-15 and 0.67 for CTM-3. Intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.64, 0.75 and 0.66, respectively. Approximately 33% of the participants had limited health literacy. After adjusting for other patient variables, those with inadequate health literacy had lower scores on all instruments. Although the three instruments had acceptable validity and reliability, they showed limited criterion validity. Patients with limited health literacy should be supported to ensure the quality of transitional care.

Effect of Patient-Centered Transitional Care Services on Clinical Outcomes in Patients Hospitalized for Heart Failure

Health care services that support the hospital-to-home transition can improve outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF). To test the effectiveness of the Patient-Centered Care Transitions in HF transitional care model in patients hospitalized for HF. Stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial of 2494 adults hospitalized for HF across 10 hospitals in Ontario, Canada, from February 2015 to March 2016, with follow-up until November 2016. Hospitals were randomized to receive the intervention (n = 1104 patients), in which nurse-led self-care education, a structured hospital discharge summary, a family physician follow-up appointment less than 1 week after discharge, and, for high-risk patients, structured nurse homevisits and heart function clinic care were provided to patients, or usual care (n = 1390 patients), in which transitional care was left to the discretion of clinicians. Primary outcomes were hierarchically ordered as composite all-cause readmission, emergency department (ED) visit, or death at 3 months; and composite all-cause readmission or ED visit at 30 days. Secondary outcomes were B-PREPARED score for discharge preparedness (range: 0 [most prepared] to 22 [least prepared]); the 3-Item Care Transitions Measure (CTM-3) for quality of transition (range: 0 [worst transition] to 100 [best transition]); the 5-level EQ-5D version (EQ-5D-5L) for quality of life (range: 0 [dead] to 1 [full health]); and quality-adjusted life-years (QALY; range: 0 [dead] to 0.5 [full health at 6 months]). Among eligible patients, all 2494 (mean age, 77.7 years; 1258 [50.4%] women) completed the trial. There was no significant difference between the intervention and usual care groups in the first primary composite outcome (545 [49.4%] vs 698 [50.2%] events, respectively; hazard ratio [HR], 0.99 [95% CI, 0.83-1.19]) or in the second primary composite outcome (304 [27.5%] vs 408 [29.3%] events, respectively; HR, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.73-1.18]). There were significant differences between the intervention and usual care groups in the secondary outcomes of mean B-PREPARED score at 6 weeks (16.6 vs 13.9; difference, 2.65 [95% CI, 1.37-3.92]; P < .001); mean CTM-3 score at 6 weeks (76.5 vs 70.3; difference, 6.16 [95% CI, 0.90-11.43]; P = .02); and mean EQ-5D-5L score at 6 weeks (0.7 vs 0.7; difference, 0.06 [95% CI, 0.01 to 0.11]; P = .02) and 6 months (0.7 vs 0.6; difference, 0.06 [95% CI, 0.01-0.12]; P = .02). There was no significant difference in mean QALY between groups at 6 months (0.3 vs 0.3; difference, 0.00 [95% CI, -0.02 to 0.02]; P = .98). Among patients with HF in Ontario, Canada, implementation of a patient-centered transitional care model compared with usual care did not improve a composite of clinical outcomes. Whether this type of intervention could be effective in other health care systems or locations would require further research. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02112227.

WITHDRAWN: The impact of care management information technology model on quality of care after percutaneous coronary intervention: “Bridging the Divides”

BackgroundReducing readmissions and improving metrics of care are a national priority. Supplementing traditional care with care management may improve outcomes. The Bridges program was an initial evaluation of a care management platform (CareLinkHub), supported by information technology (IT) developed to improve the quality and transition of care from hospital to home after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and reduce readmissions. MethodsCareLink is comprised of care managers, patient navigators, pharmacists and physicians. Information to guide care management is guided by a middleware layer to gather information, PLR (ColdLight Solutions, LLC) and presented to CareLink staff on a care management platform, Aerial™ (Medecision). An additional analytic engine [Neuron™ (ColdLight Solutions, LLC)] helps, evaluates and guide care. ResultsThe “Bridges” program enrolled a total of 2054 PCI patients with 2835 admission from April, 1st 2013 through March 1st, 2015. The data of the program was compared with those of 3691 PCI patients with 4414 admissions in the 3years prior to the program. No impact was seen with respect to inpatient and observation readmission, or emergency department visits. Similarly no change was noticed in LDL control. There was minimal improvement in BP control and only in the CTM-3 and SAQ-7 physical limitation scores in the patients' reported outcomes. Patient follow-up with physicians within 1week of discharge improved during the Bridges years. ConclusionsThe CareLink hub platform was successfully implemented. Little or no impact on outcome metrics was seen in the short follow-up time. The Bridges program suggests that population health management must be a long-term goal, improving preventive care in the community.

Validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the care transition measure.

BackgroundThe 15-item care transition measure (CTM-15) is a reliable and valid instrument assessing the quality of care transition from patients’ perspectives. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the CTM-15 and the CTM-3 (a 3-item short version of the CTM-15) in Mainland China.Methodology/FindingsThis was a cross-sectional study with a convenience sample of 646 patients in a general tertiary-level hospital in Chengdu, China. The results indicated that the Cronbach’s α values of the Chinese version of the two measures were 0.90 and 0.56, and the test-retest reliability values were 0.91 and 0.87, respectively. Three factors were extracted for the CTM-15 in Chinese populations. The CTM-15 and the CTM-3 scores discriminated well between patients with and without re-hospitalization for their index condition. The CTM-15 and the CTM-3 had significant positive relationships with self-rated health status. The CTM-3 score was significantly related to the CTM-15 score, and the CTM-3 score accounted for 64.23% of the variance of the CTM-15 score.Conclusions/SignificanceThis study has demonstrated the psychometric properties of the CTM-15 and the CTM-3 in Mainland China. Although the Cronbach’s α value of the CTM-3 is suboptimal, it has exhibited high test-retest reliability, convergent validity and criterion validity. Therefore, the CTM-3 can substitute the CTM-15 as a performance measurement tool when the sample size is large enough to compensate its suboptimal reliability or the reduced response burden is a concern.

The Effect of a Care Transition Intervention on the Patient Experience of Older Multi-Lingual Adults in the Safety Net: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) and Care Transitions Measure (CTM-3) scores are patient experience measures used to determine hospital value-based purchasing reimbursement. Interventions to improve 30-day readmissions have met with mixed results, but less is known about their potential to improve the patient experience among older ethnically and linguistically diverse adults receiving care at safety-net hospitals. In this study, we assessed the effect of a nurse-led hospital-based care transition intervention on discharge-related patient experience in an older multilingual population of adults hospitalized at a safety-net hospital. We randomized 700 inpatients aged 55 and older at an academic urban safety-net hospital. In addition to usual care, intervention participants received inpatient visits by a language-concordant study nurse and post-discharge phone calls from a language-concordant nurse practitioner to reinforce the care plan and to address acute complaints. We measured HCAHPS nursing, medication, and discharge communication domain scores and CTM-3 scores at 30 days after hospital discharge. Of 685 participants who survived to 30 days, 90 % (n = 616) completed follow-up interviews. The mean age was 66.2 years; over half (54.2 %) of the participants had cognitive impairment, and 33.8 % had moderate to severe depression. The majority (62.1 %) of interviews were conducted in English; 23.3 % were conducted in Chinese and 14.6 % in Spanish. Study nurses spent an average of 157 min with intervention participants. Between intervention and usual care participants, CTM-3 scores (80.5 % vs 78.5 %; p = 0.18) and HCAHPS discharge communication domain scores (74.8 % vs 68.7 %; p = 0.11) did not differ, nor did HCAHPS scores in medication (44.5 % vs 53.1 %; p = 0.13) and nursing domains (67.9 % vs 64.9 %; p = 0.43). When stratified by language, no significant differences were seen. An inpatient standalone transition-of-care intervention did not improve patient discharge experience. Older multi-lingual and cognitively impaired populations may require higher-intensity interventions post-hospitalization to improve discharge experience outcomes.

Do post discharge phone calls improve care transitions? A cluster-randomized trial.

ImportanceThe transition from hospital to home can expose patients to adverse events during the post discharge period. Post discharge care including phone calls may provide support for patients returning home but the impact on care transitions is unknown.ObjectiveTo examine the effect of a 72-hour post discharge phone call on the patient's transition of care experience.DesignCluster-randomized control trial.SettingUrban, academic medical center.ParticipantsGeneral medical patients age 18 and older discharged home after hospitalization.Main Outcomes and MeasuresPrimary outcome measure was the Care Transition Measure (CTM-3) score, a validated measure of the quality of care transitions. Secondary measures included self-reported adherence to medication and follow up plans, and 30-day composite of emergency department (ED) visits and hospital readmission.Results328 patients were included in the study over an 6-month period. 114 (69%) received a post discharge phone call, and 214 of all patients in the study completed the follow outcome survey (65% response rate). A small difference in CTM-3 scores was observed between the intervention and control groups (1.87 points, 95% CI 0.47–3.27, p = 0.01). Self-reported adherence to treatment plans, ED visits, and emergency readmission rates were similar between the two groups (odds ratio 0.57, 95% CI 0.13–2.45, 1.20, 95% CI 0.61–2.37, and 1.18, 95% CI 0.53–2.61, respectively).Conclusions and RelevanceA single post discharge phone call had a small impact on the quality of care transitions and no effect on hospital utilization. Higher intensity post discharge support may be required to improve the patient experience upon returning home.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01580774

Validation of the care transition measure in multi-ethnic South-East Asia in Singapore.

BackgroundThe 15-item Care Transition Measure (CTM-15) is a measure for assessing the quality of care during transition from the patients’ perspective. The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the CTM-15 and CTM-3 (a 3-item version of the CTM-15) in Singapore, a multi-ethnic urban state in South-east Asia.MethodsA consecutive sample of patients was recruited from two tertiary hospitals. The subjects or their proxies were interviewed 3 weeks after discharge from hospital to home in English or Chinese using the CTM-15 questionnaire. Information about patients’ visit to emergency department (ED), non-elective rehospitalisation for the condition of index hospitalisation, and care experience after discharge was also collected from respondents. Psychometric properties of CTM-15 and CTM-3 based on the five-point response scale (i.e. strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree) and the three-point response scale (i.e. [strongly] agree, neutral, and [strongly] disagree) were tested for English and Chinese versions separately. Internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and construct validity was tested with T-test or Pearson’s correlation by examining hypothesised association of CTM scores with ED visit, rehospitalisation, and experience with care after discharge. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to examine latent dimensions of CTM-15.ResultsA total of 414 (proxy: 96.1%) and 165 (proxy: 84.8%) subjects completed the interviews in English and Chinese, respectively. Cronbach’s alpha values of the different CTM-15 versions ranged from 0.81 to 0.87. In contrast, Cronbach’s alpha values of the CTM-3 ranged from 0.42 to 0.63. Both CTM-15 and CTM-3 were correlated with care experience after discharge regardless of survey language or response scale (Pearson’s correlation coefficient: 0.36 to 0.46). Among the English-speaking respondents, the CTM-15 and CTM-3 scores based on both the three- and five-point response scales discriminated well between patients with and without ED visits or rehospitalisation for their index condition. Among Chinese-speaking respondents, no difference in CTM scores was observed between patients with and without ED visits or patients with and without rehospitalisation. The English and Chinese versions of the CTM-15 items demonstrated a similar 4-factor structure representing general care plan, medication, agreement on care plan, and specific care instructions.ConclusionsThe care transition measure is a valid and reliable measure for quality of care transition in Singapore. Moreover, the care transition measure can be administered to proxies using a simpler response scale. The discriminatory power of the Chinese version of this instrument needs to be further tested in future studies.

The relationship between quality of life, health and care transition: an empirical comparison in an older post-acute population

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to explore, via empirical comparison, the relationship between quality of life, as measured by the ICECAP-O capability index (a new instrument designed to measure and value quality of life in older people), with both self-reported health status and the quality of care transition in adults aged 65 and over participating in two post acute rehabilitation programs (outpatient day rehabilitation and the Australian National Transition Care residential program).MethodsThe ICECAP-O was administered to patients receiving either outpatient day rehabilitation (n = 53) or residential transition care (n = 29) during a face to face interview. The relationships between the ICECAP-O and other instruments, including the EQ-5D (a self-reported measure of health status) and CTM-3 (a self-reported measure of the quality of care transitions), the type of post-acute care being received and socio-demographic characteristics were examined.ResultsThe mean ICECAP-O score for the total sample was 0.81 (SD: 0.15). Patients receiving outpatient day rehabilitation generally reported higher levels of capability, than patients receiving residential transition care (mean 0.82 [SD: 0.15] and 0.79 [SD: 0.164] respectively), however these differences were not statistically significant. The mean EQ-5D score for the total sample was somewhat lower than the ICECAP-O (mean 0.55; SD: 0.27) indicating significant levels of health impairment with the outpatient day rehabilitation group demonstrating slightly higher levels of health status than the transition care group (mean 0.54 [SD: 0.254] and mean 0.49 [SD: 0.30]). The ICECAP-O was found to be positively correlated with both the CTM-3 (Spearman’s r =0.234; p ≤ 0.05) and the EQ-5D (Spearman’s r = 0.437; p ≤ 0.001). The relationships between the total EQ-5D and CTM-3 scores and the individual attributes of the ICECAP-O indicate health status and quality of care transition in this patient population to be influential in some, but not all aspects of capability.ConclusionsThe correlations between the ICECAP-O, EQ-5D and CTM-3 instruments illustrate that capability is strongly and positively associated with health-related quality of life and the quality of care transitions. However further research is required to further examine the construct validity of the ICECAP-O and to examine its potential for incorporation into economic evaluation.

Standardizing Hospital Discharge Planning at the Mayo Clinic

Improving the quality of patient coordination in the transition from hospital to home is a high-priority health care concern. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Conditions of Participation in the Medicare Program require that hospitals have a discharge planning (DP) process in effect that applies to all patients. The impact of a practice change in DP practice on the quality of care coordination at discharge was evaluated from patients' perspectives. A multifactor, evidence-based DP practice change, which included merging of DP specialist roles and use of an early screen for DP decision support tool, was initiated in a large, Midwestern academic medical center and evaluated in a nonequivalent comparison group design with separate pre- and postpractice change samples. The three-item Care Transitions Measure (CTM-3) was mailed to adults recently discharged from one medical and one surgical nursing unit before and after the practice change. Response rates were 52.4% before (218/416) and 39.5% (153/387) after the practice change. There were no significant differences between characteristics of the pre- and postpractice change participants. The mean CTM-3 score of patients who received assistance from the nurse/ social worker DP team improved by 14 points (67.2 to 81.2), although the data were skewed with a ceiling effect, rendering the results inconclusive. Although the CTM-3 results were inconclusive, the practice change resulted in a clinically meaningful decrease in length of stay for a group of older patients at greater risk for complex discharge plans. The proactive approach to DP proved to be a valuable shift. The successes of the standardization of DP processes and improved multidisciplinary teamwork were important considerations for implementation throughout the organization.

Electronic Versus Dictated Hospital Discharge Summaries: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Patient care transitions are periods of enhanced risk. Discharge summaries have been used to communicate essential information between hospital-based physicians and primary care physicians (PCPs), and may reduce rates of adverse events after discharge. To assess PCP satisfaction with an electronic discharge summary (EDS) program as compared to conventional dictated discharge summaries. Cluster randomized trial. Four medical teams of an academic general medical service. The primary endpoint was overall discharge summary quality, as assessed by PCPs using a 100-point visual analogue scale. Other endpoints included housestaff satisfaction (using a 100-point scale), adverse outcomes after discharge (combined endpoint of emergency department visits, readmission, and death), and patient understanding of discharge details as measured by the Care Transition Model (CTM-3) score (ranging from 0 to 100). 209 patient discharges were included over a 2-month period encompassing 1 housestaff rotation. Surveys were sent out for 188 of these patient discharges, and 119 were returned (63% response rate). No difference in PCP-reported overall quality was observed between the 2 methods (86.4 for EDS vs. 84.3 for dictation; P = 0.53). Housestaff found the EDS significantly easier to use than conventional dictation (86.5 for EDS vs. 49.2 for dictation; P = 0.03), but there was no difference in overall housestaff satisfaction. There was no difference between discharge methods for the combined endpoint for adverse outcomes (22 for EDS [21%] vs. 21 for dictation [20%]; P = 0.89), or for patient understanding of discharge details (CTM-3 score 80.3 for EDS vs. 81.3 for dictation; P = 0.81) An EDS program can be used by housestaff to more easily create hospital discharge summaries, and there was no difference in PCP satisfaction.