RATIONALE Over the last decade, in order to close the safety and health care quality chasm, there has been a growing imperative to translate evidence-based research into practice. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This study examines the major facilitators and barriers of implementing in a large US insurance organization – Aetna Corporation – an evidence-based model of care, the Transitional Care Model, which has been rigorously tested over the past twenty years by a multidisciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania. METHODS Semi-structured interviews of 19 project leaders, case managers, and transitional care nurses were conducted during two phases of translation – start-up and roll out. Qualitative analysis was used to identify more than a dozen key barriers to and facilitators of translation in these two critical phases. Results Six facilitators and seven barriers that are consistent with the literature were identified during and categorized as either start-up or roll-out. CONCLUSION The combined results have important practical implications for other, subsequent translational efforts and for assisting providers, policy makers, payers, and other change agents in integrating evidence-based practice with “real world” management.

August 7, 2019

Translating research into practice: transitional care for older adults

01/21/2011
Journal Article
RATIONALE Over the last decade, in order to close the safety and health care quality chasm, there has been a growing imperative to translate evidence-based research into practice. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This study examines the major facilitators and barriers of implementing in a large US insurance organization – Aetna Corporation […]
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RATIONALE Over the last decade, in order to close the safety and health care quality chasm, there has been a growing imperative to translate evidence-based research into practice. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This study examines the major facilitators and barriers of implementing in a large US insurance organization - Aetna Corporation - an evidence-based model of care, the Transitional Care Model, which has been rigorously tested over the past twenty years by a multidisciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania. METHODS Semi-structured interviews of 19 project leaders, case managers, and transitional care nurses were conducted during two phases of translation - start-up and roll out. Qualitative analysis was used to identify more than a dozen key barriers to and facilitators of translation in these two critical phases. Results Six facilitators and seven barriers that are consistent with the literature were identified during and categorized as either start-up or roll-out. CONCLUSION The combined results have important practical implications for other, subsequent translational efforts and for assisting providers, policy makers, payers, and other change agents in integrating evidence-based practice with "real world" management.
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http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2753.2009.01308.x/abstract
August 7, 2019

Coordination of Care for Persons With Disabilities Enrolled in Medicaid Managed Care Plans

01/21/2011
White Paper
The purpose of this document is to present a conceptual framework to guide the development of measures of care coordination that would be both feasible to apply and meaningful in assessing the performance of Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) that enroll people with disabilities. Although there are no explicitly required […]
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The purpose of this document is to present a conceptual framework to guide the development of measures of care coordination that would be both feasible to apply and meaningful in assessing the performance of Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) that enroll people with disabilities. Although there are no explicitly required care coordination systems now in place, some states are providing systems of coordination and doing it with existing resources. This document presents a structure for defining and measuring good care coordination for states that have systems and want to measure them, and for those who may wish to implement systems in the future.
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http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/carecoor.pdf
August 7, 2019

Hospital At Home: Feasibility and Outcomes of a Program to Provide Hospital-Level Care at Home for Acutely Ill Older Patients. (Annals of Internal Medicine, December 6, 2005 vol. 143 no. 11 798-808)

01/25/2011
Background: Acutely ill older persons often experience adverse events when cared for in the acute care hospital. Objective: To assess the clinical feasibility and efficacy of providing acute hospital-level care in a patient’s home in a hospital at home. Design: Prospective quasi-experiment. Setting: 3 Medicare-managed care (Medicare + Choice) health […]
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Background: Acutely ill older persons often experience adverse events when cared for in the acute care hospital. Objective: To assess the clinical feasibility and efficacy of providing acute hospital-level care in a patient's home in a hospital at home. Design: Prospective quasi-experiment. Setting: 3 Medicare-managed care (Medicare + Choice) health systems at 2 sites and a Veterans Administration medical center. Participants: 455 community-dwelling elderly patients who required admission to an acute care hospital for community-acquired pneumonia, exacerbation of chronic heart failure, exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or cellulitis. Intervention: Treatment in a hospital-at-home model of care that substitutes for treatment in an acute care hospital. Measurements: Clinical process measures, standards of care, clinical complications, satisfaction with care, functional status, and costs of care. Results: Hospital-at-home care was feasible and efficacious in delivering hospital-level care to patients at home. In 2 of 3 sites studied, 69% of patients who were offered hospital-at-home care chose it over acute hospital care; in the third site, 29% of patients chose hospital-at-home care. Although less procedurally oriented than acute hospital care, hospital-at-home care met quality standards at rates similar to those of acute hospital care. On an intention-to-treat basis, patients treated in hospital-at-home had a shorter length of stay (3.2 vs. 4.9 days) (P?= 0.004), and there was some evidence that they also had fewer complications. The mean cost was lower for hospital-at-home care than for acute hospital care ($5081 vs. $7480) (P?< 0.001). Limitations: Possible selection bias because of the quasi-experimental design and missing data, modest sample size, and study site differences. Conclusions: The hospital-at-home care model is feasible, safe, and efficacious for certain older patients with selected acute medical illnesses who require acute hospital-level care.
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http://www.annals.org/content/143/11/798.abstract