Reduce Emergency Department Visits Research Articles

Home Care Nursing After Elective Vascular Surgery: An Opportunity to Reduce Emergency Department Visits and Hospital Readmission

Background Events occurring outside the hospital setting are underevaluated in surgical quality improvement initiatives and research. Objective To quantify regional variation in home care nursing following vascular surgery and explore its impact on emergency department (ED) visits and hospital readmission. Methods Patients who underwent elective vascular surgery and were discharged directly home were identified from population-based administrative databases for the province of Ontario, Canada, 2006–2015. The index surgeries included carotid endarterectomy, open and endovascular aortic aneurysm repair and bypass for lower extremity peripheral arterial disease. Home care nursing within 30 days of discharge was captured and compared across regions. Using multilevel logistic regression, we characterised the association between home care nursing and the risk of an ED visit or hospital readmission within 30 days of discharge. Results The cohort included 23 617 patients, of whom 9002 (38%) received home care nursing within 30 days of discharge home. Receipt of nursing care after discharge home varied widely across Ontario’s 14 administrative health regions (range 16%–84%), even after accounting for differences in patient case mix. A lower likelihood of an ED visit or hospital readmission within 30 days of discharge was observed among patients who received home care nursing following three of four index surgeries: carotid endarterectomy OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.91; endovascular aortic aneurysm repair OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.99; open aortic aneurysm repair OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.23; bypass for lower extremity peripheral arterial disease OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.92. Conclusion Home care nursing may contribute to reducing ED visits and hospital readmission and is variably prescribed after vascular surgery.

113 Pharmacist Interventions at Discharge and the Quality of Older Patients' Care: A Systematic Review

Abstract Background Discharge and transfer between healthcare facilities put older adults at risk of medication-related problems and early readmission. This review examined the evidence for pharmacist interventions at discharge and patients’ care quality. Methods Eight databases were searched systematically from inception to date, using the appropriate search strategy for each. A search for grey literature was conducted on eight further websites. No filters (e.g. language/dates) were applied. Only prospective randomized/quasi-randomized controlled studies involving patients > 65 years of both genders, discharged alive from hospital, were included. The criteria outlined in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions formed the basis of the assessment, conducted using RevMan 5.3. Results 9738 articles were obtained: 8120 unique articles after duplicate removal. Following screening, 12 studies were identified for inclusion. Interventions comprised follow up, medication review and patient counselling at discharge. Of these, 10 were delivered by pharmacists alone, while the remainder were delivered by pharmacists within a multidisciplinary team. Outcome measures included readmission rates, length of stay, medication adherence and care quality. Nine studies showed significant improvements over standard care, e.g. a decrease in hospital admissions (0.68 OR, p=0.002), improved compliance (P<0.001) and a 47% reduction in emergency department visits (95% CI, 0.37-0.75). However, three studies did not report positive results: Two reported non-significant improvement but the third reported poorer readmission rates. Risk of bias was low but the high baseline standard of care reduced the scope for improvement in two of these studies. Conclusion The review summarizes pharmacist interventions’ efficacy and their effect on care quality indicators where possible. The majority of interventions at discharge significantly enhanced patients’ care quality. The findings should prove valuable to decision-makers when planning or improving discharge and post-discharge services.

High-Deductible Health Plans and Cancer Survivorship: What Is the Association With Access to Care and Hospital Emergency Department Use?

To examine the associations among high-deductible health plan (HDHP) enrollment, cancer survivorship, and access to care and utilization. The 2010 to 2017 National Health Interview Survey was used to identify privately insured adults ages 18 to 64 years (cancer survivors, n = 4,321; individuals without a cancer history, n = 95,316). We used multivariable logistic regressions to evaluate the associations among HDHP/health savings account (HSA) status, delayed/forgone care for financial reasons, and hospital emergency department (ED) visits among cancer survivors compared with individuals without a cancer history. Among cancer survivors, HDHPs with or without HSA (8.9% and 13.9%, respectively; both P < .05) were associated with more delayed/forgone care compared with low-deductible health plans (LDHPs) (7.9%). HSA enrollment was associated with less delayed/forgone care among HDHP cancer survivors (P < .05). ED visits were similar by insurance type. Among individuals without a cancer history, HDHP with or without HSA (9.5% and 10.8%, respectively; both P < .05) were both associated with more delayed/forgone care compared with LDHPs (5.9%). HSA enrollment also was associated with less delayed/forgone care among HDHP enrollees without a cancer history. A small difference in ED visits was observed between HDHPs without HSA (15.3%) and LDHPs (14.1%; P < .05) or HDHPs with HSA (13.4%; P < .05) among individuals without a cancer history. HDHP enrollment and HSA status affect access to care and hospital ED visits similarly by cancer history. HDHP enrollment may serve as a barrier to access to care among cancer survivors, although HSA enrollment coupled with an HDHP may mitigate the impact on access. HDHPs and HSA status were not associated with ED visits among cancer survivors. Improvement to care coordination efforts may be needed to reduce ED visits among privately insured cancer survivors.

Pharmacogenomics in clinical care

Health care designed specifically for a person based on their genetic makeup ("personalized" or "precision" medicine) is expanding rapidly, especially in the area of drug selection. Pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing, when drugs and doses are selected based on an individual's genetic profile, is increasingly being used to guide the selection of drugs or therapies to optimize outcomes and minimize side effects. Based on an individual's genetic blueprint, health care providers now have important information about how a drug is likely to behave in that individual's body. Pharmacogenomic information on drug labels is now available for nearly 250 drugs. Health care organizations are also increasingly making this information available to customers to reduce emergency department visits, improve outcomes (selecting the right chemotherapy doses), and reduce cost. This study reviews some of the challenges and benefits on using PGx testing to improve clinical outcomes.

The Longitudinal Urgent Care Psychiatry (LUCY) model is associated with reduced emergency department visits

The Longitudinal Urgent Care Psychiatry (LUCY) model is associated with reduced emergency department visits

Home care nursing after elective vascular surgery: an opportunity to reduce emergency department visits and hospital readmission

BackgroundEvents occurring outside the hospital setting are underevaluated in surgical quality improvement initiatives and research.ObjectiveTo quantify regional variation in home care nursing following vascular surgery and explore its impact on...

Effect of a school-based asthma clinic on asthma outcomes.

Background: The St. Louis Children's Hospital Healthy Kids Express Asthma (HKEA) program was developed to improve asthma control in children who attend schools with the highest asthma prevalence in the metropolitan area. The HKEA program differs from other programs because unscheduled visits occur at school without parents present. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of the HKEA program via a retrospective quality assurance study. Methods: A chart review was performed to evaluate the change in health-care utilization, absenteeism, staff and student education, inhaler technique checks, and parent satisfaction surveys before and after participation in the program. The Wilcoxon signed rank test, two-way analysis of variance, and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: The HKEA program recruited 1076 participants ages 5-15 years during 3 school years, from 2008 to 2011. The participants showed a reduction in emergency department visits (36.9% to 14.2%) and hospitalizations (7.1% to 5.0%) from the year before beginning the program to the third year of the program. Absenteeism was significantly improved, from 59.1% to 27.1%. Staff and student knowledge of asthma improved significantly after completing asthma education programs. More than 90% of participants completed three technique checks of their inhaler and spacer technique and showed significant improvement in their tech check (an inhaler/aero chamber technique check) scores. Parent satisfaction with the HKEA program was rated excellent or very good by 96.9% of the parents. Conclusion: The HKEA program is a novel school-based asthma clinic that is well accepted by parents, and results in less health-care utilization and school absences as well as improved asthma knowledge in participants and the school staff.

P097: The characteristics and effectiveness of interventions targeting chronic pain patients in the emergency department: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: Patients with chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) and opioid-use disorders make up a category of patients who present a challenge to emergency department (ED) providers and healthcare administrators. Their conditions predispose them to frequent ED utilization. This problem has been compounded by a worsening opioid epidemic that has rendered clinicians apprehensive about how they approach pain care. A systematic review has not yet been performed to inform the management of CNCP patients in the ED. As such, the purpose of this project was to identify and describe the effectiveness of interventions to reduce ED visits for high-utilizers with CNCP. Methods: Included participants were high-utilizers presenting with CNCP. All study designs were eligible for inclusion if they examined an intervention aimed at reducing ED utilization. The outcomes of interest were the number of ED visits as well as the amount and type of opioids prescribed in the ED and after discharge. We searched Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, CENTRAL, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and the grey literature from inception to June 16, 2018. Two independent investigators assessed articles for inclusion following PRISMA guidelines. Risk of bias will be assessed using the Cochrane ROBINS-I and RoB 2 tools for non-randomized and randomized trials, respectively. Results: Following review, 14 of the 5,018 identified articles were included for analysis. These articles assessed a total of 1,670 patients from both urban and rural settings. Interventions included pain protocols or policies (n = 5), individualized care plans (n = 5), ED care coordination (n = 2), a chronic pain management pathway (n = 1), and a behavioural health intervention (n = 1). Intervention effects trended towards the reduction of both ED visits and opioid prescriptions. The meta-analysis is in progress. Conclusion: Preliminary results suggest that interventions aimed at high-utilizers with CNCP can reduce ED visits and ED opioid prescription. ED opioid-restriction policies that sought to disincentivize drug-related ED visits were most successful, especially when accompanied by an electronic medical record (EMR) alert to ensure consistent application of the policy by all clinicians and administrators involved in the care of these patients. This review was limited by inconsistencies in the definition of ‘high-utilizer’ and by the lack of high-powered randomized studies.

Local Health Department Activities to Reduce Emergency Department Visits for Substance Use Disorders.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides financial incentives to prevent substance use disorders (SUDs). Local health departments (LHDs) can receive funds to establish care teams that partner with primary care providers and health systems. This study estimates the potential effect of LHDs on emergency visits for SUDs, using linked data sets from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Emergency Department (ED) sample for the State of Maryland-2012, the National Association of County and City Health Officials Profiles Survey 2013, and Area Health Resource File 2013 to estimate potential effect of LHDs' provision of SUD preventive care and SUD-related policy implementation. Local health department involvement in SUD-related policy during the past 2 years and provision of preventive care for behavioral health in the past year significantly reduced the probability of having a SUD-related ED visit by 11% and 6%, respectively, after controlling for individual characteristics (odds ratio [OR] = 0.89, p < .001; OR = 0.93, p < .001). After adjusting for the individual and contextual factors, LHD involvement in policy was still associated with 14% reduction in SUD-related ED visits (OR = 0.86, p < .001). Results offer insights on the extent to which the LHD activities can possibly affect SUD-related ED visits and provide a foundation for future work to identify effective LHD interventions.

Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations in Four States: Implementation and Early Impacts.

As state Medicaid programs consider alternative payment models (APMs), many are choosing accountable care organizations (ACOs) as a way to improve health outcomes, coordinate care, and reduce expenditures. Four states (Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Vermont) leveraged State Innovation Model awards to create or expand Medicaid ACOs. We used a mixed-methods design to assess achievements and challenges with ACO implementation and the impact of Medicaid ACOs on health care utilization, quality, and expenditures in three states. We integrated findings from key informant interviews, focus groups, document review, and difference-in-difference analyses using data from Medicaid claims and an all-payer claims database. States built their Medicaid ACOs on existing health care reforms and infrastructure. Facilitators of implementation included allowing flexibility in design and implementation, targeting technical assistance, and making clinical, cost, and use data readily available to providers. Barriers included provider concerns about their ability to influence patient behavior, sustainability of provider practice transformation efforts when shared savings are reinvested into the health system and not shared with participating clinicians, and limited integration between health care and social service providers. Medicaid ACOs were associated with some improvements in use, quality, and expenditures, including statistically significant reductions in emergency department visits. Only Vermont's ACO demonstrated slower growth in total Medicaid expenditures. Four states demonstrated that adoption of ACOs for Medicaid beneficiaries was both possible and, for three states, associated with some improvements in care. States revised these models over time to address stakeholder concerns, increase provider participation, and enable some providers to accept financial risk for Medicaid patients. Lessons learned from these early efforts can inform the design and implementation of APMs in other Medicaid programs.

Urgent care centres reduce emergency department and primary care same-day visits: a natural experiment.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of urgent care centres' (UCCs) implementation on emergency department (ED) and same-day visits in primary care in a Chilean public healthcare network. Quasi-experimental design study assessing changes in patient visits after UCC implementation in a local health district. Ten family health centres (FHC), nine UCCs and three EDs in the Talcahuano Health District, Chile. A total of 1603055 same-day visits to FHC, 1528319 visits to UCCs and 1727429 visits to EDs, monthly grouped, from 2008 to 2014. Data were obtained from the Monthly Statistical Register Database. We used quasi-experimental methods to evaluate the impact of UCC implementation on ED visits and same-day visits to FHC. We used a difference-in-difference analysis with seasonal adjustments to control potential confounders. We used a triple difference model to test for potential short-term effects. We used as an intervention a group of FHCs and EDs that implemented UCCs from 2008 to 2014 and, as a comparison group, the FHCs and EDs that implemented UCCs before that period. We observed a 5.70% (95% CI: -11.05 to -0.35) decrease in the same-day visits rate to FHCs and a 2.69% (95% CI: -3.96 to -1.43) reduction in ED visits after UCC implementation. The negative trend in same-day visits was more pronounced in children and adolescents (-14.18%; 95% CI: -20.10 to -8.25). The negative trend in ED visits was more pronounced in adult (-4.15%; 95% CI: -5.46 to -2.83) and elderly population (-2.24%; 95% CI: -4.00 to -0.48). We also confirmed that our results are not driven by transient short-term effects after the intervention. UCC implementation reduced ED visits. However, they also reduced same-day visits to primary care centres. This could have a negative impact on the quality of primary care provided.

The impact of integrated care for people with chronic conditions on hospital and emergency department utilization

Integrated care commonly involves provision of comprehensive community-based care for people with chronic conditions. It is anticipated that implementation of integrated care, with a proactive approach to management of chronic conditions, will reduce reliance on hospital and emergency department (ED) services. The aim of this rapid review was to summarize the best available evidence on the impact of integrated care for patients with chronic conditions on hospital and ED utilization and investigate trends in outcomes over time. Given the large body of literature available on this topic, this rapid review considered existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses that included adults with chronic conditions. Any model of integrated care that involved management of patients across the continuum of care, with the aim to provide more care in community settings, was considered for inclusion. A search of PubMed, CINAHL, Google Advanced, and websites of international healthcare provider organizations was conducted to locate relevant published and gray literature. A total of 13 systematic reviews were included. Overall, evidence suggests that integrated care may reduce the risk of hospitalization, with reviews including patients with diverse chronic conditions showing a 19% reduction. Integrated care appears effective in reducing readmissions for patients with heart failure, with an absolute risk reduction of 8% for first and 19% for subsequent rehospitalization. For ED presentations, evidence indicates that integrated care has no effect overall but may reduce ED visits for patients aged 65 years or more. For patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, integrated care was associated with reductions in length of stay ranging from 2.5 to 4 days. Studies with shorter follow-up, from 3 to 12 months, in general appeared to show a greater impact of integrated care than studies with longer follow-up of 18 months or more. The evidence identified suggests integrated care generally reduces utilization of hospital services. In some instances, there were no differences observed between integrated care and usual care, but no included reviews reported increased utilization of these services. The impact of integrated care may be greater in the short-term, given the ultimate deterioration associated with advanced chronic disease which may negate any long-term benefits.

The Impact of a Community-Based Serious Illness Care Program on Healthcare Utilization and Patient Care Experience.

Healthcare organizations are expanding community-based serious illness care programs to deliver care for homebound patients. Programs typically focus on home-based primary care or home-based palliative care, yet this population may require both services. We developed and evaluated a primary and palliative care program serving seriously ill older adults, called the Reaching Out to Enhance the Health of Adults in Their Communities and Homes (REACH) program. Our objective was to determine the impact of the REACH program on healthcare utilization and the patient care experience. Case study using medical record review and telephone interviews. Home-based serious illness care program in central North Carolina. Patients enrolled in the REACH program from August 2014 to March 2016 (n = 159). Home-based primary and palliative care delivered by an interdisciplinary team for seriously ill older adults. Structured medical record review including demographics, health and functional status, and acute hospitalization and emergency department (ED) visits in the 12 months preceding and following initiation of the REACH program. A convenience sample of participants completed telephone interviews that measured the quality-of-care experience and quality of communication. REACH patients had a 43% reduction in hospital visits and a 25% reduction in ED visits. Participants in telephone interviews reported a high-quality care experience and very good quality of communication with REACH providers. A care model that integrates home-based primary care and palliative care has the potential to reduce health service utilization and enhance the care experience for older patients with serious illness. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:825-830, 2019.

A multifaceted primary care practice-based intervention to reduce ED visits and hospitalization for complex medical patients: A mixed methods study.

BackgroundThe management of complex, multi-morbid patients is challenging for solo primary care providers (PCPs) with limited access to resources. The primary objective of the intervention was to reduce the overall rate of Emergency Department (ED) visits among patients in participating practices.Methods and findingsAn interrupted time series design and qualitative interviews were used to evaluate a multifaceted intervention, SCOPE (Seamless Care Optimizing the Patient Experience), offered to solo PCPs whose patients were frequent users of the ED. The intervention featured a navigation hub (nurse, homecare coordinator) to link PCPs with hospital and community resources, a general internist on-call to provide phone advice or urgent assessments, and access to patient results on-line. Continuous quality improvement (QI) strategies were employed to optimize each component of the intervention. The primary outcome was the relative pre-post intervention change in ED visit rate for patients of participating practices compared with that for a propensity-matched control group of physicians over the contemporaneous period. Themes were identified from semi-structured interviews on PCP’s experiences and influential factors in their engagement. Twenty-nine physicians agreed to participate and were provided access to the intervention over an 18-month time period. There were a total of 1,525 intervention contacts over the 18-months (average: 50.6±60.8 per PCP). Both intervention and control groups experienced a trend towards lower rates of ED use by their patients over the study time period. The pre-post difference in trend for the intervention group compared to the controls was not significant at 1.4% per year (RR = 1.014; p = 0.59). Several themes were identified from qualitative interviews including: PCPs felt better supported in the care of their patients; they experienced a greater sense of community, and; they were better able to provide shared primary-specialty care.ConclusionsThis multifaceted intervention to support solo PCPs in the management of their complex patients did not result in a reduced rate of ED visits compared to controls, likely related to variable uptake among PCPs. It did however result in more comprehensive and coordinated care for their patients. Future directions will focus on increasing uptake by improving ease of use, increasing the range of services offered and expanding to a larger number of PCPs.

Reducing Emergency Department Visits Among Dual Eligible Patients via a Comprehensive Wellness Assessment.

The objective was to assess whether a Comprehensive Wellness Assessment (CWA) is associated with reduced emergency department (ED) visits for Special Needs Program (SNP) enrollees with diabetes. This retrospective panel study used a Medicare Advantage plan's administrative claims data for 2010-2017 and pooled member-month observations. Multivariate regression and individual fixed-effects regression models were estimated. The outcome was ED visits measured as binary and continuous outcomes. Data were derived from claims data that included at least 1 ICD-9 or 10 code between January 2010 and December 2017. Regression results indicated that SNP enrollees completing a CWA was associated with a lower probability of any monthly ED use (β = -0.005, t-stat = -2.98) and fewer monthly visits (β = -0.008, t-stat = -2.95). Individual fixed-effects models also demonstrated a significant decline in SNP ED use after a CWA, though the strongest effects were confined to the first 4 months after a CWA. Care models with components such as CWAs may contribute an additional benefit in the form of a reduction in ED utilization. Completing a CWA appears to be effective in reducing ED utilization among SNP members with diabetes.

Quantitative Effect of Emergency Department Case Management on Visits, Diagnostics, and Cost

Background and Hypothesis: &#x0D; In 2012, Parkview Health initiated a case management (CM) program with the hypothesis that it would reduce emergency department (ED) visits, radiation exposure, and costs for patients who had visited a Parkview ED 5 or more times within 6 months. &#x0D; Experimental Design or Project Methods: &#x0D; This retrospective case series involved examining medical records of 460 CM patients from 2011 to 2018, recording the amount of Parkview ED visits, diagnostic tests, and affected cost accumulated in the year prior to CM enrollment compared to each of the next 2 years. Demographics, chief complaints, diagnoses, psychiatric and drug use history, and whether the patients had insurance and a primary care provider were also recorded. Patient data was excluded if the patient was younger than 18 at the time of CM enrollment, had not yet completed 2 years in the CM program, or if medical records were not available. ANOVA and 1-sided, paired t-testing were performed to evaluate significance of the results. &#x0D; Results: &#x0D; Comparing the year before enrollment to the 2nd year after, ED visits were reduced from 5,264 to 2,012 for 378 patients (63%, p&lt;0.01), the affected cost was reduced from $551,734.45 to $246,248.34 for 299 patients (55%, p&lt;0.01), and the number of diagnostic tests was reduced from 6,040 to 1,883 for 104 patients (69%, p&lt;0.01). &#x0D; Conclusion and Potential Impact: &#x0D; Patients enrolled in Parkview’s CM program showed statistically significant reductions in ED visits, radiologic exposures, and affected costs over 2 years, with implicit improved health outcomes. Projected 10-year affected cost savings range from $3.7 million to $9.1 million.

Frontline oncology care team primary palliative symptom guideline education, the oncology care model, and emergency department visits.

143 Background: The Oncology Care Model (OCM) is a novel 5-year quality-based Oncology payment and care delivery program established by the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Service in 2016. OCM prioritizes high-quality, coordinated care for patients undergoing chemotherapy (chemo pts.) Participating centers provide augmented services to enhance care and meet quality goals. Challenging symptoms (sxs) are common among chemo pts and may lead to hospitalization and decreased quality of life. Specialist palliative care teams are not able to see all chemo pts with active sxs. Front line oncology care teams (FLC) need education on primary palliative sx management. Methods: Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute is one of 181 practices voluntarily participating in OCM. Locations include main campus and 5 regional cancer offices with 100 oncologists caring for about 4,000 chemotherapy patients annually. Our OCM team engaged Oncology (Onc) and Palliative Medicine (PM) providers to standardize sx management. Education was provided to FLC of all disciplines. Electronic record analytics were used to determine emergency department (ED) utilization. Results: A multidisciplinary team of Onc and PM experts developed guidelines for 4 common sxs (chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, persistent cancer pain, nausea/vomiting and constipation. Guidelines were approved by key Onc and PM staff and made available to all providers online. There were 4 educational sessions for FLCs to all sites in 2017. Urgent sx outpatient appointment slots were created in oncology offices to address uncontrolled sx. From Dec 2017 to May 2018, ED visits for all cancer patients at main campus decreased from 500/month to 453/month (9.4%.) Reductions in ED visits were also seen at 2 hospitals adjacent to regional cancer centers (16% and 6%.) Conclusions: OCM participation provided an opportunity to improve care quality at our institution. Primary palliative sx guidelines were successfully developed by an interdisciplinary team and disseminated to FLC. Urgent sx management appointments were made available in oncology offices. These interventions coincided with a reduction in ED visits for all cancer patients.

Emergency department visits among patients with advanced solid tumors at a cancer center in Mexico City.

52 Background: Emergency department (ED) visits are a distressing event for patients with advanced cancer, and identifying planned, unplanned and avoidable ED visits is important for providing better cancer care. We studied the causes for ED visits, as well as potentially avoidable ED visits during palliative chemotherapy, among patients with advanced cancer treated at a public cancer center in Mexico City. Methods: Consecutive patients with newly diagnosed advanced solid tumors treated at Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán from 10/2015 to 03/2016 were screened. Patients who visited the ED during that period were included, and their demographic and clinical characteristics recorded. Number and reasons for ED visits were obtained from medical records. Among patients who received chemotherapy within the previous 30 days, the following reasons for ED visits were classified as avoidable: anemia, nausea, dehydration, neutropenia, diarrhea, pain, emesis, pneumonia, fever or sepsis (according to Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program). Results: 77 patients were diagnosed with advanced solid tumors during the study period, of which 53 (69%) had at least one ED visit. Median age was 63 years (range, 19-88), and 47% were men (n = 25). 51% had gastrointestinal, 21% genitourinary and 28% other tumors. Median follow-up was 360 days. 95 ED visits were identified; with a median number of ED visits per patient of 1 (range 1-5). The most common causes of ED visits were: infections (n = 20; 21%), gastrointestinal disorders (n = 18; 19%), pain (n = 15; 16%), ascites (n = 14; 15%), anemia (n = 4; 4%), catheter dysfunction (n = 4; 4%), and other causes (n = 20; 21%). 57% of ED visits among patients who received chemotherapy within the previous 30 days were classified as potentially avoidable. Conclusions: Over two thirds of patients with newly diagnosed metastatic cancer had ED visits in the first year after diagnosis. Furthermore, more than a half of ED visits among patients receiving palliative chemotherapy were potentially avoidable. Strategies aimed at reducing ED visits are needed to improve quality of care for patients with advanced cancer.

Association of Team-Based Primary Care With Health Care Utilization and Costs Among Chronically Ill Patients

Empirical study findings to date are mixed on the association between team-based primary care initiatives and health care use and costs for Medicaid and commercially insured patients, especially those with multiple chronic conditions. To evaluate the association of establishing team-based primary care with patient health care use and costs. We used difference-in-differences to compare preutilization and postutilization rates between intervention and comparison practices with inverse probability weighting to balance observable differences. We fit a linear model using generalized estimating equations to adjust for clustering at 18 academically affiliated primary care practices in the Boston, Massachusetts, area between 2011 and 2015. The study included 83 953 patients accounting for 138 113 patient-years across 18 intervention practices and 238 455 patients accounting for 401 573 patient-years across 76 comparison practices. Data were analyzed between April and August 2018. Practices participated in a 4-year learning collaborative that created and supported team-based primary care. Outpatient visits, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, ambulatory care-sensitive hospitalizations, ambulatory care-sensitive emergency department visits, and total costs of care. Of 322 408 participants, 176 259 (54.7%) were female; 64 030 (19.9%) were younger than 18 years and 258 378 (80.1%) were age 19 to 64 years. Intervention practices had fewer participants, with 2 or more chronic conditions (n = 51 155 [37.0%] vs n = 186 954 [46.6%]), more participants younger than 18 years (n = 337 931 [27.5%] vs n = 74 691 [18.6%]), higher Medicaid enrollment (n = 39 541 [28.6%] vs n = 81 417 [20.3%]), and similar sex distributions (75 023 women [54.4%] vs 220 097 women [54.8%]); however, after inverse probability weighting, observable patient characteristics were well balanced. Intervention practices had higher utilization in the preperiod. Patients in intervention practices experienced a 7.4% increase in annual outpatient visits relative to baseline (95% CI, 3.5%-11.3%; P < .001) after adjusting for patient age, sex, comorbidity, zip code level sociodemographic characteristics, clinician characteristics, and plan fixed effects. In a subsample of patients with 2 or more chronic conditions, there was a statistically significant 18.6% reduction in hospitalizations (95% CI, 1.5%-33.0%; P = .03), 25.2% reduction in emergency department visits (95% CI, 6.6%-44.0%; P = .007), and a 36.7% reduction in ambulatory care-sensitive emergency department visits (95% CI, 9.2%-64.0%; P = .009). Among patients with less than 2 comorbidities, there was an increase in outpatient visits (9.2%; 95% CI, 5.10%-13.10%; P < .001), hospitalizations (36.2%; 95% CI, 12.2-566.6; P = .003), and ambulatory care-sensitive hospitalizations (50.6%; 95% CI, 7.1%-329.2%; P = .02). While establishing team-based care was not associated with differences in the full patient sample, there were substantial reductions in utilization among a subset of chronically ill patients. Team-based care practice transformation in primary care settings may be a valuable tool in improving the care of sicker patients, thereby reducing avoidable use; however, it may lead to greater use among healthier patients.

Understanding what drives patients with cancer to visit the emergency department: A qualitative study.

173 Background: Visits to the emergency department (ED) are common among patients with cancer (PWCs). Previous research suggests that few ED visits are precipitated by true oncologic emergencies (Diaz-Couselo 2004). Designing initiatives to reduce ED visits requires a rich understanding of factors that drive PWCs to visit the ED. Methods: Standardized interviews were conducted with 12 oncology clinicians at an academic oncology clinic in Toronto, Canada. Interviews were also conducted with 10 PWCs. Interviews explored factors that may drive ED visits, and interviewees’ insights into interventions to prevent ED visits. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Transcriptions were qualitatively analyzed by two independent reviewers using the constant comparison method (Strauss and Corbin 1998). Results: Ten themes were identified as factors that may drive ED visits, with little overlap between themes identified by clinicians versus those identified by PWCs. Clinicians identified low socioeconomic status, lack of social support, advanced age, comorbidities, anxiety and non-adherence as important factors. In contrast, PWCs focused on the severity and expectedness of symptoms, lack of access to afterhours oncology advice and care, and adherence with medical and non-medical advice as drivers of ED visits. Regarding potential interventions, there was broad agreement between clinicians and PWCs regarding what might be helpful. Both groups identified improved access to expert cancer advice/care, improved coordination of care between clinics and ancillary health services, and patient education as important interventions. Clinicians also believed increasing community supports would help prevent ED visits. PWCs emphasized that some ED visits are not preventable. Conclusions: Clinicians and PWCs have different views on what drives ED visits. Despite identifying different drivers, clinicians and PWCs identified common solutions for reducing ED visits.