View clinical trials related to Skilled Nursing Facilities.
Filter by:This study tests whether changing the relative order of presentation of post acute care skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in the Repisodic application, i.e., presenting preferred SNFs (P-SNFs) first, increases selection of, and discharges to, P-SNFs and decreases lengths of stay (LoS) for Geisinger patients discharged to SNFs. Along with the order of P-SNFs, the study also assesses whether a short video reviewing the benefits of care coordination in P-SNFs increases patient election to transfer to one.
We seek to pilot a randomized controlled evaluation of skilled nursing facility care at home. We plan to enroll patients who would normally be sent to a skilled nursing facility following following hospitalization. As a substitute for a skilled nursing facility, we will deploy a technology-enabled team to the home to care for patients.
Close to one-third of Medicare decedents use the Medicare skilled nursing facility (SNF) benefit in the 6 months prior to death. SNF care often increases the risk for more aggressive, potentially burdensome treatments and unrecognized or undertreated symptoms. Palliative care is goal-directed, patient and family-centered care that focuses on a wide range of physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs for persons with serious, life-limiting illnesses. Effective palliative care relieves suffering, enhances communication, and improves end-of-life care and decision making for seriously ill older adults. Despite its association with improved quality of care, higher satisfaction, and better symptom management at the end of life, palliative care is not widely available to Medicare patients in the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) setting. Palliative care consultation (PCC) is one approach that can potentially improve care for older adults with advanced illness in SNFs. This pilot study will test an evidence-based palliative care consult intervention for older adult SNF patients in nursing homes by comparing the patient/family caregiver reported quality of life in two participant groups: one receiving a PCC and the other receiving standard care.
Anticipated Impact on Veterans Healthcare: Polypharmacy, defined as more than five medications, and hyperpolypharmacy, defined as more than 10 medications, are both common in older patients discharged to nursing homes for short stays. Several recent studies demonstrate the occurrence and potential inappropriateness of polypharmacy among older patients in both VA and non-VA healthcare settings. Other studies have shown that polypharmacy can lead to many harmful events among older community-dwelling and hospitalized populations including decreased medication taking, increased harm due to medications, and increased health care use and costs. Polypharmacy and a ways to measure drug burden have additionally been found to be associated with the development of the following geriatric syndromes: mild dementia, delirium, falls, loss of urine, and unintentional weight loss. The investigators' innovative, patient-centered Drug Reduction in Older Patients (DROP) procedure has significant potential to impact the health of a large population of older Veterans who are vulnerable to poor health outcomes. It is during hospitalization and nursing home care that older patients often acquire new geriatric syndromes and medications and, thus, when deprescribing actions should be initiated by VA care providers. In addition, the clinical care provided during the hospital and SNF stays allows the effects of medication changes to be more closely monitored for safety relative to when the Veteran is at home. Project Objectives: The proposed randomized, controlled trial will evaluate the effects of procedures to reduce medications (DROP) among hospitalized older Veterans discharged to nursing homes using an hybrid study design to inform future efforts to spread it across VA. Project Background/Rationale: Patients discharged to nursing homes for short stays represent the largest group of Medicare beneficiaries discharged to post-hospital services and are a particularly high risk group for loss of independence and other poor clinical outcomes. This investigative team recently completed a VA-funded Quality Improvement Award and a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Award, both of which provide strong results related to the occurrence of polypharmacy and the relationship between polypharmacy and geriatric syndromes (e.g., medications associated with falls) in this patient population. Based on these data, the investigators developed and pilot-tested a patient-centered deprescribing set of procedures combined with standardized questions for eight geriatric syndromes to be implemented in the hospital and monitored during the nursing home stay. Project Methods: The investigators propose an innovative hybrid study design that will be conducted in one VA hospital. The goal of the proposed DROP intervention is to safely deprescribe medications, as defined by reducing doses or stopping medications, based on a combination of clinical criteria and Veteran preferences. This randomized, controlled trial conducted over three years will evaluate the effects of this hospital-based intervention on medication use, geriatric syndromes, and health status across Veterans' care transitions from the hospital to nursing home to home to include a 90-day follow-up period after leaving the nursing home. The hypothesis is that reducing medications for older Veterans will favorably impact geriatric syndromes. Additionally, the investigators aim to understand Veteran, both VA and non-VA provider and system-level factors that help or hinder how well the deprescribing procedures are implemented to inform future clinical uptake and dissemination throughout the VA.