Perspectives on supporting Veterans' social needs during hospital to home health transitions: findings from the Transitions Nurse Program.

BACKGROUND: Veterans who need post-acute home health care (HHC) are at risk for adverse outcomes and unmet social needs. Veterans' social needs could be identified and met by community-based HHC clinicians due to their unique perspective from the home environment, acuity of Veterans they serve, and access to Veterans receiving community care. To understand these needs, we explored clinician, Veteran, and care partner perspectives to understand Veterans' social needs during the transition from hospital to home with skilled HHC. METHODS: Qualitative data were collected through individual interviews with Veterans Health Administration (VHA) inpatient & community HHC clinicians, Veterans, and care partners who have significant roles facilitating Veterans' hospital to home with HHC transition. To inform implementation of a care coordination quality improvement intervention, participants were asked about VHA and HHC care coordination and Veterans' social needs during these transitions. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed inductively using thematic analysis and results were organized deductively according to relevant transitional care domains (Discharge Planning, Transition to Home, and HHC Delivery). RESULTS: We conducted 35 interviews at 4 VHA Medical Centers located in Western, Midwestern, and Southern U.S. regions during March 2021 through July 2022. We organized results by the three care transition domains and related themes by VHA, HHC, or Veteran/care partner perspective. Our themes included (1) how social needs affected access to HHC, (2) the need for social needs screening during hospitalization, (3) delays in HHC for Veterans discharged from community hospitals, and (4) a need for closed-loop communication between VHA and HHC to report social needs. CONCLUSIONS: HHC is an underexplored space for Veterans social needs detection. While this research is preliminary, we recommend two steps forward from this work: (1) develop closed-loop communication and education pathways with HHC and (2) develop a partnership to integrate a social risk screener into HHC pathways.

Implementation of VA care coordination program to improve transitional care for veterans post-non-VA hospital discharge: an incremental cost analysis.

BACKGROUND: The Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System Community Hospital Transitions Program (CHTP) was implemented as a nurse-led intervention to reduce barriers that patients experience when transitioning from community hospitals to VA primary care settings. A previous analysis indicated that veterans who enrolled in CHTP received timely follow-up care and communications that improved care coordination, but did not examine cost implications for the VA. METHODS: A budget impact analysis used the VA (payer) perspective. CHTP implementation team members and study records identified key resources required to initially implement and run the CHTP. Statistical analysis of program participants and matched controls at two study sites was used to estimate incremental VA primary care costs per veteran. Using combined program implementation, operations, and healthcare cost estimates to guide key model assumptions, overall CHTP costs were estimated for a 5-year time horizon, including a discount rate of 3%, annual inflation of 2.5%, and a sensitivity analysis that considered two options for staffing the program at VA Medical Center (VAMC) sites. RESULTS: Implementation at two VAMCs required 3 months, including central program support and site-level onboarding, with costs of $34,094 (range: $25,355-$51,602), which included direct and indirect resource costs of personnel time, materials, space, and equipment. Subsequent annual costs to run the program at each site depended heavily on the staffing mix and caseload of veterans, with a baseline estimate of $193,802 to $264,868. Patients enrolled in CHTP had post-hospitalization VA primary care costs that were higher than matched controls. Over 5 years, CHTP sites staffed to serve 25-30 veterans per full-time equivalent transition team member per month had an estimated budget impact of $625 per veteran served if the transitional team included a medical social worker to support veterans with more social behavioral needs and less complex medical cases or $815 per veteran if nurses served all cases. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence-based care coordination programs that support patients' return to VA primary care after a community hospital stay are feasible to implement and run. Further, flexibility in staffing this type of program is increasingly relevant as the VA and other healthcare systems consider methods to reduce provider burnout, optimize staffing, reduce costs, and address other staffing challenges while improving patient care.

Optimizing care coordination to address social determinants of health needs for dual-use veterans.

BACKGROUND: Veterans increasingly utilize both the Veteran's Health Administration (VA) and non-VA hospitals (dual-users). Dual-users are at increased risk of fragmented care and adverse outcomes and often do not receive necessary follow-up care addressing social determinants of health (SDOH). We developed a Veteran-informed social worker-led Advanced Care Coordination (ACC) program to decrease fragmented care and provide longitudinal care coordination addressing SDOH for dual-users accessing non-VA emergency departments (EDs) in two communities. METHODS: ACC had four core components: 1. Notification from non-VA ED providers of Veterans' ED visit; 2. ACC social worker completed a comprehensive assessment with the Veteran to identify SDOH needs; 3. Clinical intervention addressing SDOH up to 90 days post-ED discharge; and 4. Warm hand-off to Veteran's VA primary care team. Data was documented in our program database. We performed propensity matching between a control group and ACC participants between 4/10/2018 - 4/1/2020 (N- = 161). A joint survival model using Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique was employed for 30-day outcomes. We performed Difference-In-Difference analyses on number of ED visits, admissions, and primary care physician (PCP) visits 120-day pre/post discharge. RESULTS: When compared to a matched control group ACC had significantly lower risk of 30-day ED visits (Hazard Ratio (HR) = 0.61, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = (0.42, 0.92)) and a higher probability of PCP visits at 13-30 days post-ED visit (HR = 1.5, 95% CI = (1.01, 2.22)). Veterans enrolled in ACC were connected to VA PCP visits (50%), VA benefits (19%), home health care (10%), mental health and substance use treatment (7%), transportation (7%), financial assistance (5%), and homeless resources (2%). CONCLUSION: We developed and implemented a program addressing dual-users' SDOH needs post non-VA ED discharge. Social workers connected dual-users to needed follow-up care and resources which reduced fragmentation and adverse outcomes.

Use of the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance (RE-AIM) framework to guide iterative adaptations: Applications, lessons learned, and future directions.

Introduction: Implementation science frameworks have been used widely for planning and evaluation, but seldom to guide adaptations during program implementation. There is great potential for these frameworks to be used to inform conceptual and data-driven decisions about adaptations. Methods: We summarize recent applications using Iterative RE-AIM to capture and guide adaptations. Iterative RE-AIM can be repeated at multiple time points customized to each project and involves the following activities: identification of key implementation partners; rating importance of and progress on each RE-AIM dimension (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance); use of summary data on ratings to identify one or two RE-AIM dimensions for adaptations and implementation strategies; and evaluation of progress and impact of adaptations. We summarize recent and ongoing Iterative RE-AIM applications across multiple care coordination and pain management projects within the Veterans Health Administration, a hypertension control trial in Guatemala, a hospital-based lung ultrasound implementation pilot, and a colorectal cancer screening program in underserved communities. Results: Iterative RE-AIM appears feasible, helpful, and broadly applicable across diverse health care issues, interventions, contexts, and populations. In general, the RE-AIM dimension showing the largest gap between importance and progress has been Reach. The dimensions most frequently selected for improvement have been Reach and Implementation. We discuss commonalities, differences and lessons learned across these various applications of Iterative RE-AIM. Challenges include having objective real time data on which to make decisions, having key implementation staff available for all assessments, and rapidly scoring and providing actionable feedback. We discuss print and online resources and materials to support Iterative RE-AIM. Conclusions: The use of Iterative RE-AIM to guide and support understanding of adaptations has proven feasible across diverse projects and in multiple case studies, but there are still questions about its strengths, limitations, essential components, efficiency, comparative effectiveness, and delivery details. Future directions include investigating the optimal frequency and timing for iterative applications; adding contextual assessments; developing more continuous and rapid data on which to make adaptation decisions; identifying opportunities to enhance health equity; and determining the level of facilitation that is most cost-effective.

Using a longitudinal multi-method approach to document, assess, and understand adaptations in the Veterans Health Administration Advanced Care Coordination program.

Background: Understanding adaptations supports iterative refinement of the implementation process and informs scale out of programs. Systematic documentation of adaptations across the life course of programs is not routinely done, and efficient capture of adaptations in real world studies is not well understood. Methods: We used a multi-method longitudinal approach to systematically document adaptations during pre-implementation, implementation, and sustainment for the Veteran Health Administration (VA) Advanced Care Coordination program. This approach included documenting adaptations through a real-time tracking instrument, process maps, Implementation and Evaluation (I&E) team meeting minutes, and adaptation interviews. Data collection was guided by the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) enhanced framework for reporting adaptations and modifications to evidence-based interventions (FRAME) model. Adaptations were evaluated across 9 categories, and analytic team consensus and member-checking were used to validate the results. Results: A total of 144 individual adaptations were identified across two implementation sites and the four data sources; analytic team consensus and member-checking processes resulted in 50 unique adaptations. Most adaptations took place during the early implementation and mid-implementation phases and were: 1) planned; 2) made to address changes in program delivery; 3) made to extend a component; 4) related to the core component of the intervention concerning notification of the community emergency department visit; 5) initiated by the entire or most of the I&E team; 6) made on the basis of: pragmatic/practical considerations; 7) made with an intent to improve implementation domain (to make the intervention delivered more consistently; to better fit the local practice, patient flow or Electronic Health Record (EHR) and/or for practical reasons); 8) a result of internal influences; 9) perceived to impact the RE-AIM implementation dimension (consistent delivery of quality care or costs). I&E team meeting minutes and process maps captured the highest numbers of unique adaptations (n = 19 and n = 13, respectively). Conclusion: Our longitudinal, multi-method approach provided a feasible way to collect adaptations data through engagement of multiple I&E team members, allowing and a broader understanding of adaptations that took place. Recommendations for future research include pragmatic assessment of the impact of adaptations and meaningful data collection without overburdening the implementing teams and front-line staff.

Variability in skilled nursing facility screening and admission processes: Implications for value-based purchasing.

BACKGROUND: Hospitalized older adults are increasingly admitted to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) for posthospital care. However, little is known about how SNFs screen and evaluate potential new admissions. In an era of increasing emphasis on postacute care outcomes, these processes may represent an important target for interventions to improve the value of SNF care. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to understand (a) how SNF clinicians evaluate hospitalized older adults and make decisions to admit patients to an SNF and (b) the limitations and benefits of current practices in the context of value-based payment reforms. METHODS: We used semistructured interviews to understand the perspective of 18 clinicians at three unique SNFs-including physicians, nurses, therapists, and liaisons. All transcripts were analyzed using a general inductive theme-based approach. RESULTS: We found that the screening and admission processes varied by SNF and that variability was influenced by three key external pressures: (a) inconsistent and inadequate transfer of medical documentation, (b) lack of understanding among hospital staff of SNF processes and capabilities, and (c) hospital payment models that encouraged hospitals to discharge patients rapidly. Responses to these pressures varied across SNFs. For example, screening and evaluation processes to respond to these pressures included gaining access to electronic medical records, providing inpatient physician consultations prior to SNF acceptance, and turning away more complex patients for those perceived to be more straightforward rehabilitation patients. CONCLUSIONS: We found facility behavior was driven by internal and external factors with implications for equitable access to care in the era of value-based purchasing. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: SNFs can most effectively respond to these pressures by increasing their agency within hospital-SNF relationships and prioritizing more careful patient screening to match patient needs and facility capabilities.

The advanced care coordination program: a protocol for improving transitions of care for dual-use veterans from community emergency departments back to the Veterans Health Administration (VA) primary care.

BACKGROUND: Veterans who access both the Veterans Health Administration (VA) and non-VA health care systems require effective care coordination to avoid adverse health care outcomes. These dual-use Veterans have diverse and complex needs. Gaps in transitions of care between VA and non-VA systems are common. The Advanced Care Coordination (ACC) quality improvement program aims to address these gaps by implementing a comprehensive longitudinal care coordination intervention with a focus on Veterans' social determinants of health (SDOH) to facilitate Veterans' transitions of care back to the Eastern Colorado Health Care System (ECHCS) for follow-up care. METHODS: The ACC program is an ongoing quality improvement study that will enroll dual-use Veterans after discharge from non-VA emergency department (EDs), and will provide Veterans with social worker-led longitudinal care coordination addressing SDOH and providing linkage to resources. The ACC social worker will complete biopsychosocial assessments to identify Veteran needs, conduct regular in-person and phone visits, and connect Veterans back to their VA care teams. We will identify non-VA EDs in the Denver, Colorado metro area that will provide the most effective partnership based on location and Veteran need. Veterans will be enrolled into the ACC program when they visit one of our selected non-VA EDs without being hospitalized. We will develop a program database to allow for continuous evaluation. Continuing education and outreach including the development of a resource guide, Veteran Care Cards, and program newsletters will generate program buy-in and bridge communication. We will evaluate our program using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance framework, supported by the Practical, Robust Implementation and Sustainability Model, Theoretical Domains Framework, and process mapping. DISCUSSION: The ACC program will improve care coordination for dual-use Veterans by implementing social-work led longitudinal care coordination addressing Veterans' SDOH. This intervention will provide an essential service for effective care coordination.

Risk assessment practices among home visiting nurses and child protection caseworkers in Colorado, United States: A qualitative investigation.

Nurses and caseworkers engage in assessments with the families they serve. Nurse home visitors from Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) improve maternal-child health outcomes with first-time low-income mothers through care, education and support. In the United States, Child Protective Services (CPS) are state-level governmental agencies that protect children, including responding to reports of child maltreatment. This paper aimed to characterise similarities and differences in risk assessment practices between NFP nurses and CPS caseworkers in Colorado, United States. Using a grounded theory approach, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 112 NFP and CPS workers from seven Colorado NFP sites from 2013 to 2015. Study sites were purposefully selected based on size, structure, geography and degree of collaboration with CPS. We conducted interviews first with NFP sites and used snowball sampling to recruit CPS workers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, validated and then coded in NVivo 10. Memo writing was conducted to organise and link concepts within the theme of risk assessment. NFP and CPS workers emphasised the importance of risk assessment in their respective practices. Although there were similarities in the types of risks assessed, we found variations in work processes, operational definitions and methods of risk assessment between the two organisations that impacted inter-organisational collaboration to serve high-risk mothers and their children. NFP and CPS workers may have different roles and responsibilities but their underlying goals are the same - to keep children and their families safe and healthy. By understanding these similarities and differences in practice, there lies potential to improve collaboration between home visiting programmes and child welfare to provide integrated service delivery of high-risk families and prevention of future child maltreatment.

Perceived Costs of Care Influence Post-Acute Care Choices by Clinicians, Patients, and Caregivers.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Older adults frequently receive post-acute care (PAC) after hospital discharge, but little is known about how perceived costs influence PAC choices. This research study sought to understand how clinicians, patients, and their caregivers evaluate the cost of skilled nursing facility (SNF) care in their decisions about whether to utilize SNFs after hospital discharge. DESIGN: Guided by principles of social constructivist theory, we conducted a qualitative interpretative study using semistructured interviews with clinicians, patients, and caregivers. SETTING: The study took place in three SNFs and three hospitals located in an urban area. Purposive sampling was used to maximize variability in SNFs, hospitals, units within hospitals, and staff. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 104 participants made up the study: 25 hospital clinicians, 20 SNF clinicians, 20 hospital patients, 15 SNF patients, 14 hospital caregivers, and 10 SNF caregivers who were directly involved in patients' transition from acute hospitalization to SNFs. MEASUREMENTS: Central themes related to how perceived costs of care influence PAC choices. RESULTS: Clinicians, patients, and caregivers did not understand the nuances of SNF insurance coverage or out-of-pocket costs. They felt constrained by insurance coverage in their discharge disposition choices and faced delays in hospital discharge due to insurance authorization processes. Some clinicians reacted to these constraints by "documenting failure," sending patients home to "fail" so they could justify SNF to insurers. Others changed their recommendations to provide patients "some" postdischarge care, even if inadequate, because of cost constraints. Clinicians discussed conserving resources to take maximal advantage of insurance-covered SNF days. Overall, cost constraint resulted in patient safety concerns, clinician professional dilemma, and moral distress. CONCLUSION: Improving patient and caregiver understanding about costs and constraints of PAC would improve decision making. There is a need for improved comprehension of cost and insurance coverage of SNF care for informed patient and provider decision making at the time of hospital discharge. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:703-710, 2019.

Systematic, Multimethod Assessment of Adaptations Across Four Diverse Health Systems Interventions.

BACKGROUND: Many health outcomes and implementation science studies have demonstrated the importance of tailoring evidence-based care interventions to local context to improve fit. By adapting to local culture, history, resources, characteristics, and priorities, interventions are more likely to lead to improved outcomes. However, it is unclear how best to adapt evidence-based programs and promising innovations. There are few guides or examples of how to best categorize or assess health-care adaptations, and even fewer that are brief and practical for use by non-researchers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study describes the importance and potential of assessing adaptations before, during, and after the implementation of health systems interventions. We present a promising multilevel and multimethod approach developed and being applied across four different health systems interventions. Finally, we discuss implications and opportunities for future research. RESULTS: The four case studies are diverse in the conditions addressed, interventions, and implementation strategies. They include two nurse coordinator-based transition of care interventions, a data and training-driven multimodal pain management project, and a cardiovascular patient-reported outcomes project, all of which are using audit and feedback. We used the same modified adaptation framework to document changes made to the interventions and implementation strategies. To create the modified framework, we started with the adaptation and modification model developed by Stirman and colleagues and expanded it by adding concepts from the RE-AIM framework. Our assessments address the intuitive domains of Who, How, When, What, and Why to classify and organize adaptations. For each case study, we discuss how the modified framework was operationalized, the multiple methods used to collect data, results to date and approaches utilized for data analysis. These methods include a real-time tracking system and structured interviews at key times during the intervention. We provide descriptive data on the types and categories of adaptations made and discuss lessons learned. CONCLUSION: The multimethod approaches demonstrate utility across diverse health systems interventions. The modified adaptations model adequately captures adaptations across the various projects and content areas. We recommend systematic documentation of adaptations in future clinical and public health research and have made our assessment materials publicly available.