scholarly journals Using Medicare Data to Inform Intervention and Care Delivery for the Most Expensive Patients

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 911-911
Author(s):  
Sam Amodeo ◽  
Henrik Kowalkowski ◽  
Halley Brantley ◽  
Lauren Bangerter ◽  
Nicholas Jones ◽  
...  

Abstract Older adults with high medical spend require tailored interventions and care delivery models to meet their complex needs. Segmenting high-spend patients is a promising approach to designing such interventions. In this study we explored patient spend across 4 years (2016-2019) using claims from 799,205 patients continuously enrolled in UnitedHealth Group Medicare Advantage (mean age=73.7; S.E.=0.01). Patients with healthcare spend in the top decile were segmented into three subgroups: catastrophic, persistent, and semi-persistent. Catastrophic patients had more acute events (acute myocardial infarction and hip/pelvic fracture) driving their cost. Persistent patients were younger (mean age=67.8; S.E.=0.06) and had significantly more medications. Semi-persistent patients were older (mean age=76.6; S.E.=0.04) and had significantly more chronic conditions and frailty, indicating their cost was driven by medical complexity. These subgroups displayed different temporal stability in their healthcare costs over time. Each year, 79-81% of the catastrophic group dropped out of the top decile. In contrast, nearly 72% of the persistent group remained in the top decile whereas only 37% of the semi-persistent group remained year over year. As the global population continues to age, it will be necessary to design interventions and care delivery models that address the complex needs of older adults in the high-spend patient population. Our study suggests that segmenting high-spend patients into potentially actionable subgroups is an important first step in achieving these goals.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S317-S318
Author(s):  
Jenny Ploeg ◽  
Marie-Lee Yous ◽  
Kimberly Fraser ◽  
Sinéad Dufour ◽  
Sharon Kaasalainen ◽  
...  

Abstract The management of multiple chronic conditions (MCC) in older adults living in the community is complex. Little is known about the experiences of interdisciplinary primary care and home providers who care for this vulnerable group. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of healthcare providers in managing the care of community-living older adults with MCC and to highlight their recommendations for improving care delivery for this group. A qualitative interpretive description design was used. A total of 42 healthcare providers from two provinces in Canada participated in semi-structured interviews. Participants represented diverse disciplines (e.g., physicians, nurses, social workers, personal support workers) and settings (e.g., primary care and home care). Thematic analysis was used to analyze interview data. The experiences of healthcare providers managing care for older adults with MCC were organized into six major themes: (1) managing complexity associated with MCC, (2) implementing person-centred care, (3), involving and supporting family caregivers, (4) using a team approach for holistic care delivery, (5) encountering rewards and challenges in caring for older adults with MCC, and (6) recommending ways to address the challenges of the healthcare system. Healthcare providers highlighted the need for a more comprehensive integrated system of care to improve care management for older adults with MCC and their family caregivers. Specifically, they suggested increased care coordination, more comprehensive primary care visits with an interprofessional team, and increased home care support.


Author(s):  
Holly Jimison ◽  
Michael Shapiro ◽  
Misha Pavel

Recent advances in sensor and communications technology have enabled scalable methods for providing continuity of care to the home for patients with chronic conditions and older adults wanting to age in place. In this article we describe our framework for a health coaching platform with a dynamic user model that enables tailored health coaching messages. We have shown that this can improve coach efficiency without a loss of message quality. We also discovered many lessons for coaching technology, most demonstrating the need for more coach input on sample message content, perhaps even requiring that individual coaches be able to modify the message database directly. Overall, coaches felt that the structure of the automated message generation was useful in remembering what to say, easy to edit if necessary and especially helpful for training new health coaches.


JMIR Nursing ◽  
10.2196/15691 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. e15691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayleigh Gordon ◽  
Carolyn Steele Gray ◽  
Katie N Dainty ◽  
Jane DeLacy ◽  
Patrick Ware ◽  
...  

Background The growing number of patients with complex chronic conditions presents an urgent challenge across the Canadian health care system. Current care delivery models are overburdened, struggling to monitor and stabilize the complex needs of this growing patient population. Objective This qualitative study aimed to explore the needs and perspectives of patients and members of the care team to inform the development of an innovative integrated model of care and the needs of telemonitoring (TM) for patients with complex chronic conditions. Furthermore, we explored how these needs could be successfully embedded to support this novel model of complex chronic care. Methods A qualitative description design was utilized to conduct and analyze 29 semistructured interviews with patients (n=16) and care team members (CTM) (n=13) involved in developing the model of care in an ambulatory care facility in Southern Ontario. Participants were identified through purposive sampling. Two researchers performed an iterative thematic analysis using NVivo 12 (QSR International; Melbourne, Australia) to gain insights from examining multiple perspectives of different participants on complex chronic care needs. Results The analysis revealed 3 themes and 13 subthemes, including the following: (1) adequate health care delivery remains challenging for patients with complex care needs, (2) insights into how to structure an integrated care model, and (3) opportunities for TM in an integrated model of care. Participants not only identified continued challenges in accessing and navigating care in a fragmented and disconnected delivery system but also identified the need for more self-management support. Patients and CTM described the structure of an integrated model of care, including the need for a clear referral and triage processes and composing a tight-knit circle of collaborating interdisciplinary providers led by a nurse practitioner (NP). Finally, opportunities for TM in an integrated model of care were identified, including increasing access and communication, the ability to monitor specific signs and symptoms, and building a clinical workflow around TM-enabled care. Conclusions Despite entrenched health care service delivery models, a new model of care is acutely needed to care for patients with complex chronic needs (CCN). NPs are in a unique position to lead TM-enabled integrated models of care. TM can facilitate frequent and necessary monitoring of patients with CCN with more than one condition in integrated models of care.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 891-891
Author(s):  
Samuel Amodeo ◽  
Henrik Kowalkowski ◽  
Halley Brantley ◽  
Lauren Bangerter ◽  
David Cook ◽  
...  

Abstract Older adults with high medical spend require tailored interventions and care delivery to meet their complex needs. Palliative is a high-value solution for high-cost patients because it provides relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress associated with multiple conditions. Likewise, other high-cost patients may be closer to end-of-life and therefore benefit from hospice care. For Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and hospitals to implement palliative care, these programs must identify and target the high-need patient populations. This study explored patterns of spending and mortality across 4 years (2016-2019) using claims from 1,701,647 patients continuously enrolled in UnitedHealth Group Medicare Advantage (mean age=73.7; S.E.=0.01). Patients with healthcare spend in the top decile were segmented into three subgroups based on health conditions and spend patterns. Analyses identified a subgroup of patients (mean age=76.6; S.E.=0.04), with the highest rate of mortality, and significantly more chronic conditions and frailty, indicating their cost and mortality was driven by medical complexity. Odds ratios from a multinomial logistic model tie blood formulation drugs (OR XX), medicative procedures (OR XX), and nonhospital-based care (OR XX) to members of this subgroup may be connected to short-term mortality. There is a critical need to identify patients who stand to benefit from palliative and end of life care, this is particularly true for high-cost high-need patients. Our study suggests that patterns of medical complexity and morality within high-cost patient subpopulations can be used to identify high-cost patients who would benefit from palliative or hospice care.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0255534
Author(s):  
Sabuj Kanti Mistry ◽  
A. R. M. Mehrab Ali ◽  
Uday Narayan Yadav ◽  
Saruna Ghimire ◽  
Md. Belal Hossain ◽  
...  

Background Burgeoning burden of non-communicable disease among older adults is one of the emerging public health problems. In the COVID-19 pandemic, health services in low- and middle-income countries, including Bangladesh, have been disrupted. This may have posed challenges for older adults with non-communicable chronic conditions in accessing essential health care services in the current pandemic. The present study aimed at exploring the challenges experienced by older Bangladeshi adults with non-communicable chronic conditions in receiving regular health care services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods The study followed a cross-sectional design and was conducted among 1032 Bangladeshi older adults aged 60 years and above during October 2020 through telephone interviews. Self-reported information on nine non-communicable chronic conditions (osteoarthritis, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, chronic kidney disease, cancer) was collected. Participants were asked if they faced any difficulties in accessing medicine and receiving routine medical care for their medical conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The association between non-communicable chronic conditions and accessing medication and health care was analysed using binary logic regression model. Results Most of the participants aged 60–69 years (77.8%), male (65.5%), married (81.4%), had no formal schooling (58.3%) and resided in rural areas (73.9%). Although more than half of the participants (58.9%) reported having a single condition, nearly one-quarter (22.9%) had multimorbidity. About a quarter of the participants reported difficulties accessing medicine (23%) and receiving routine medical care (27%) during the pandemic, and this was significantly higher among those suffering from multimorbidity. In the adjusted analyses, participants with at least one condition (AOR: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.33–2.85) and with multimorbidity (AOR: 4.75, 95% CI: 3.17–7.10) had a higher likelihood of experiencing difficulties accessing medicine. Similarly, participants with at least one condition (AOR: 3.08, 95% CI: 2.11–4.89) and with multimorbidity (AOR: 6.34, 95% CI: 4.03–9.05) were significantly more likely to face difficulties receiving routine medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions Our study found that a sizeable proportion of the older adults had difficulties in accessing medicine and receiving routine medical care during the pandemic. The study findings highlight the need to develop an appropriate health care delivery pathway and strategies to maintain essential health services during any emergencies and beyond. We also argue the need to prioritise the health of older adults with non-communicable chronic conditions in the centre of any emergency response plan and policies of Bangladesh.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Marie Lunde Husebø ◽  
Marianne Storm

Background. This review identifies the content of virtual visits in community nursing services to older adults and explores the manner in which service users and the nurses use virtual visits.Design. An integrative literature review.Method. Data collection comprised a literature search in three databases: Cinahl, Medline, and PubMed. In addition, a manual search of reference lists and expert consultation were performed. A total of 12 articles met the inclusion criteria. The articles were reviewed in terms of study characteristics, service content and utilization, and patient and health care provider experience.Results. Our review shows that in most studies the service is delivered on a daily basis and in combination with in-person visits. The findings suggest that older home-dwelling patients can benefit from virtual visits in terms of enhanced social inclusion and medication compliance. Service users and their nurses found virtual visits satisfactory and suitable for care delivery in home care to the elderly. Evidence for cost-saving benefits of virtual visits was not found.Conclusions. The findings can inform the planning of virtual visits in home health care as a complementary service to in-person visits, in order to meet the increasingly complex needs of older adults living at home.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayleigh Gordon ◽  
Carolyn Steele Gray ◽  
Katie N Dainty ◽  
Jane DeLacy ◽  
Patrick Ware ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND The growing number of patients with complex chronic conditions presents an urgent challenge across the Canadian health care system. Current care delivery models are overburdened, struggling to monitor and stabilize the complex needs of this growing patient population. OBJECTIVE This qualitative study aimed to explore the needs and perspectives of patients and members of the care team to inform the development of an innovative integrated model of care and the needs of telemonitoring (TM) for patients with complex chronic conditions. Furthermore, we explored how these needs could be successfully embedded to support this novel model of complex chronic care. METHODS A qualitative description design was utilized to conduct and analyze 29 semistructured interviews with patients (n=16) and care team members (CTM) (n=13) involved in developing the model of care in an ambulatory care facility in Southern Ontario. Participants were identified through purposive sampling. Two researchers performed an iterative thematic analysis using NVivo 12 (QSR International; Melbourne, Australia) to gain insights from examining multiple perspectives of different participants on complex chronic care needs. RESULTS The analysis revealed 3 themes and 13 subthemes, including the following: (1) adequate health care delivery remains challenging for patients with complex care needs, (2) insights into how to structure an integrated care model, and (3) opportunities for TM in an integrated model of care. Participants not only identified continued challenges in accessing and navigating care in a fragmented and disconnected delivery system but also identified the need for more self-management support. Patients and CTM described the structure of an integrated model of care, including the need for a clear referral and triage processes and composing a tight-knit circle of collaborating interdisciplinary providers led by a nurse practitioner (NP). Finally, opportunities for TM in an integrated model of care were identified, including increasing access and communication, the ability to monitor specific signs and symptoms, and building a clinical workflow around TM-enabled care. CONCLUSIONS Despite entrenched health care service delivery models, a new model of care is acutely needed to care for patients with complex chronic needs (CCN). NPs are in a unique position to lead TM-enabled integrated models of care. TM can facilitate frequent and necessary monitoring of patients with CCN with more than one condition in integrated models of care.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ploeg ◽  
Marie-Lee Yous ◽  
Kimberly Fraser ◽  
Sinéad Dufour ◽  
Lisa Garland Baird ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Living with multiple chronic conditions (MCC), the coexistence of two or more chronic conditions, is becoming more prevalent as the population ages. Primary care and home care providers play key roles in caring for older adults with MCC such as facilitating complex care decisions, shared decision-making, and access to community health and support services. While there is some research on the perceptions and experiences of these providers in caring for this population, much of this literature is focused specifically on family physicians. Little is known about the experiences of other primary care and home care providers from multiple disciplines who care for this vulnerable group. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of primary and home care healthcare providers in supporting the care of older adults with MCC living in the community, and identify ways of improving care delivery and outcomes for this group. Methods The study used an interpretive descriptive design. A total of 42 healthcare providers from two provinces in Canada (Ontario and Alberta) participated in individual semi-structured, face-to-face 60-min interviews. Participants represented diverse disciplines from primary care and home care settings. Inductive thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Results The experiences and recommendations of healthcare providers managing care for older adults with MCC were organized into six major themes: (1) managing complexity associated with MCC, (2) implementing person-centred care, (3), supporting caregivers, (4) using a team approach for holistic care delivery, (5) encountering challenges and rewards, and (6) recommending ways to address the challenges of the healthcare system. Healthcare providers identified the need for a more comprehensive, integrated system of care to improve the delivery of care and outcomes for older adults with MCC and their family caregivers. Conclusions Study findings suggest that community-based healthcare providers are using many relevant and appropriate strategies to support older adults living with the complexity of MCC, such as implementing person-centred care, supporting caregivers, working collaboratively with other providers, and addressing social determinants of health. However, they also identified the need for a more comprehensive, integrated system of care.


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