Development, successes, and potential pitfalls of multidisciplinary chronic disease management clinics in a family health team: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: The creation of Family Health Teams in Ontario was intended to reconfigure primary care services to better meet the needs of an aging population, an increasing proportion of which is affected by frailty and multimorbidity. However, evaluations of family health teams have yielded mixed results. METHODS: We conducted interviews with 22 health professionals affiliated or working with a well-established family health team in Southwest Ontario to understand how it approached the development of interprofessional chronic disease management programs, including successes and areas for improvement. RESULTS: Qualitative analysis of the transcripts identified two primary themes: [1] Interprofessional team building and [2] Inadvertent creation of silos. Within the first theme, two subthemes were identified: (a) collegial learning and (b) informal and electronic communication. CONCLUSION: Emphasis on collegiality among professionals, rather than on more traditional hierarchical relationships and common workspaces, created opportunities for better informal communication and shared learning and hence better care for patients. However, formal communication and process structures are required to optimize the deployment, engagement, and professional development of clinical resources to better support chronic disease management and to avoid internal care fragmentation for more complex patients with clustered chronic conditions.

The Association Between Frailty and a Nurse-Identified Need for Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment Referral from the Emergency Department.

BACKGROUND: Emergency nurses commonly conduct geriatric assessments in the emergency department (ED). However, little is known about what geriatric syndromes or clinical presentations prompt a nurse to document an identified need for comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA). OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between geriatric syndromes, like frailty, and a nurse-identified need for a CGA following emergency care. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of a multi-province Canadian cohort from the InterRAI Multinational Cohort Study. We collected data at ED registration from patients 75 years of age and older (n = 2,274) from eight ED sites across Canada between November 2009 and April 2012. Geriatric syndromes were assessed by trained emergency nurses using the interRAI ED Contact Assessment; and we retrospectively calculated the ED frailty index. We employed binary logistic regression to determine the adjusted associations between geriatric syndromes and a nurse-identified need for a CGA. RESULTS: Approximately one-quarter (28%) of older adults were identified to need a CGA following emergency care. A 0.1 unit increase in the ED frailty index increased the likelihood of a nurse identify a need for CGA (RD: 6.6; 95% CI = 5.5-7.9). Most geriatric syndromes increased the probability of a nurse documenting the need for a CGA. CONCLUSION: When assessed by emergency nurses, the identified need for CGA is strongly linked to the presence of geriatric syndromes, including frailty. We provide face validity for the continued use of emergency nurses for screening and assessing older ED patients.

The effects of acute care hospitalization on health and cost trajectories for nursing home residents: A matched cohort study.

Thirty five percent to sixty seven percent of admissions to acute care hospitals from nursing homes are potentially preventable. Limited data exist regarding clinical and cost trajectories post an acute care hospitalization. To describe clinical impact and post-hospitalization costs associated with acute care admissions for nursing home residents. Analysis of population-based data. The 65,996 nursing home residents from a total of 645 nursing homes. Clinical outcomes assessed with the Changes in Health, End-stage disease and Symptoms and Signs (CHESS) scores, and monthly costs. Post-index date, hospitalized residents worsened their clinical conditions, with increases in CHESS scores (CHESS 3 + 24.5% vs 7.6%, SD 0.46), more limitations in activities of daily living (ADL) (86.1% vs 76.0%, SD 0.23), more prescriptions (+1.64 95% CI 1.43-1.86, P < .001), falls (30.9% vs 18.1%, SD 0.16), pressure ulcers (16.4% vs 8.6%, SD 0.37), and bowel incontinence (47.3% vs 39.3%, SD 0.35). Acute care hospitalizations for nursing home residents had a significant impact on their clinical and cost trajectories upon return to the nursing home. Investments in preventive strategies at the nursing home level, and to mitigate functional decline of hospitalized frail elderly residents may lead to improved quality of care and reduced costs for this population. Pre-hospitalization costs were not different between the hospitalized and control groups but showed an immediate increase post-hospitalization (CAD 1882.60 per month, P < .001).

Implementation evaluation of a stepped approach to home care assessment using interRAI systems in Ontario, Canada.

In Ontario, new home care clients are screened with the interRAI Contact Assessment and only those expected to require longer-term services receive the comprehensive RAI-Home Care assessment. Although Ontario adopted this two-step approach in 2010, it is unknown whether the assessment guidelines were implemented as intended. To evaluate implementation fidelity, the purpose of this study is to compare expected to actual client profiles and care co-ordinator practice patterns. We linked interRAI CA and RAI-HC assessments and home care referrals and services data for a retrospective cohort of adult home care clients admitted in FY 2016/17. All assessments were done by trained health professionals as part of routine practice. Descriptive analyses were used to evaluate congruency between recommended and actual practice. Adjusted cause-specific hazards and logistic approaches were used to examine time to RAI-HC assessment and being a high-priority client. Of 225,989 unique home care clients admitted to the publicly funded home care program, about three-quarters of clients were assessed with the interRAI CA only (27.9% completed the Preliminary Screener only and 46.6% completed both the Preliminary Screener and Clinical Evaluation). There was substantial agreement between the skip logic and completion of the Clinical Evaluation section (Cohen's kappa = 0.67 [95% CI: 0.66-0.67]). One-quarter of clients were assessed with both the interRAI CA and RAI-HC. As expected, RAI-HC assessed clients were older, reported more health needs, and often received home care services for >6 months. Clients in higher Assessment Urgency Algorithm (AUA) levels were significantly more likely to receive a RAI-HC assessment and be assigned to a higher home care priority level; however, 28.3% of clients in the highest AUA level did not receive a RAI-HC assessment. We conclude that the use of the interRAI CA and RAI-HC balances the investment of time and resources with the information and tools to deliver high-quality, holistic, and client-centred care. The interRAI CA guides the care co-ordinator to screen every client for a broad range of possible needs and tailor further assessment to each client's unique needs. We recommend integrating the AUA into provincial assessment guidelines as well as developing a new quality indicator focused on measuring access to the home care system.

Psychometric Properties, Feasibility, and Acceptability of the Self-Reported interRAI Check-Up Assessment.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the feasibility, acceptability, and psychometric properties of the self-report version of the interRAI Check-Up (CUSR). DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of participant ratings of item content and difficulty completing the CUSR. Participants were also randomly assigned to complete the assessment by themselves or with help from a lay interviewer. SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 184 older adults from diverse backgrounds, served by 6 Canadian organizations in Ontario and Nova Scotia were recruited. Settings ranged from retirement communities for healthy older adults to assisted living facilities. MEASURES/METHODS: Time to complete the interRAI CUSR was tracked automatically. Participants self-reported on what items they wanted to have modified, added, or deleted. The also rated whether items were embarrassing or difficult to complete. Psychometric properties were examined between the 2 approaches to completion and were benchmarked against existing reports on psychometric properties of clinician-led home care assessments. RESULTS: The interRAI CUSR takes about 28 minutes to complete with both self-administered and lay interviewer approaches. The convergent validity and reliability of CUSR is comparable to those of clinician-based assessments like the Resident Assessment Instrument-Home Care. Most participants had no difficulty completing the assessment, and none rated the task as very difficult. Poor self-rated health and difficulty with phone use were predictive of any difficult in completing the assessment in a multivariate logistic regression. Most participants reported that CUSR adequately described their health needs, but arthritis, hypertension, and mental health issues were identified as items to be added by participants. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The CUSR is an appropriate, feasible assessment system with good psychometric properties for use with general populations, including primary care, community services, and patient-reported outcome measurement studies. Interoperability with other interRAI assessments makes it an ideal system to use to obtain a longitudinal view of the person's needs over time.

Transforming primary care for older Canadians living with frailty: mixed methods study protocol for a complex primary care intervention.

INTRODUCTION: Older Canadians living with frailty are high users of healthcare services; however, the healthcare system is not well designed to meet the complex needs of many older adults. Older persons look to their primary care practitioners to assess their needs and coordinate their care. They may need care from a variety of providers and services, but often this care is not well coordinated. Older adults and their family caregivers are the experts in their own needs and preferences, but often do not have a chance to participate fully in treatment decisions or care planning. As a result, older adults may have health problems that are not properly assessed, managed or treated, resulting in poorer health outcomes and higher economic and social costs. We will be implementing enhanced primary healthcare approaches for older patients, including risk screening, patient engagement and shared decision making and care coordination. These interventions will be tailored to the needs and circumstances of the primary care study sites. In this article, we describe our study protocol for implementing and testing these approaches. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Nine primary care sites in three Canadian provinces will participate in a multi-phase mixed methods study. In phase 1, baseline information will be collected through questionnaires and interviews with patients and healthcare providers (HCPs). In phase 2, HCPs and patients will be consulted to tailor the evidence-based interventions to site-specific needs and circumstances. In phase 3, sites will implement the tailored care model. Evaluation of the care model will include measures of patient and provider experience, a quality of life measure, qualitative interviews and economic evaluation. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has received ethics clearance from the host academic institutions: University of Calgary (REB17-0617), University of Waterloo (ORE#22446) and Université Laval (#MP-13-2019-1500 and 2017-2018-12-MP). Results will be disseminated through traditional means, including peer-reviewed publications and conferences and through an extensive network of knowledge user partners. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03442426;Pre-results.

A comparison of 3 frailty measures and adverse outcomes in the intake home care population: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: In Ontario, Canada, nearly all home care patients are assessed with a brief clinical assessment (interRAI Contact Assessment [interRAI CA]) on admission. Our objective was to compare 3 frailty measures that can be operationalized using the interRAI CA. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using linked patient-level assessment and administrative data for all Ontario adult (≥ 18 yr) home care patients assessed with the interRAI CA in 2014. We employed multivariable logistic models to compare the Changes in Health, End-stage disease and Signs and Symptoms Scale for the Contact Assessment (CHESS-CA), Assessment Urgency Algorithm (AUA) and the Frailty Index for the Contact Assessment (FI-CA) that was created for this study. Our outcomes of interest were death, hospital admission and emergency department visits within 90 days, and assessor-rated need for comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA). RESULTS: In 2014, there were 228 679 unique adult home care patients in Ontario assessed with the interRAI CA. Controlling for age, sex and health region, being in a higher frailty level defined by any measure increased the likelihood of experiencing adverse outcomes. Among all assessments, CHESS-CA was best suited for predicting death and hospital admission, and either AUA or FI-CA for predicting perceived need for CGA. Previous emergency department visits were more predictive of future visits than frailty. Model fit was independent of whether the assessment was completed over the phone or in person. INTERPRETATION: Frailty measures from the interRAI CA identified patients at higher risk for death, hospital admission and perceived need for CGA. In jurisdictions where the CHESS-CA and AUA are already built into the electronic home care platform, such as Ontario, patients identified as high risk should be prioritized for proactive referral and care planning, and may benefit from greater involvement of primary care and other health professionals in the circle of care.

Optimizing Access to Heart Failure Care in Canada During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The traditional model of heart failure (HF) care in Canada, which relies upon a multidisciplinary team and clinic-based care processes, has been undermined as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic continues, we will be challenged to improve or maintain the health status of those with HF by optimizing guideline-directed care despite physical distancing constraints and a reduction in the health care workforce. This will require development of new strategies specifically targeted at decreasing the risk of decompensation and resultant HF hospitalization. As such, we must quickly pivot to the adoption and application of novel technologies and revise usual care models, processes, and workflow. The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has delivered the Canadian HF community a burning platform for the design and implementation of innovative approaches to support the vulnerable population we serve; born out of necessity, we now have the opportunity to explore innovative approaches that might inform the future of HF care delivery in Canada. Herein, we provide perspectives from leadership within the Canadian Heart Failure Society on how to optimize HF care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Predictors of Home Care Costs Among Persons With Dementia, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and Multiple Sclerosis in Ontario.

Home care is an important service for persons with neurological conditions, but little is known about factors affecting health care costs in this setting. Using administrative data collected with the Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care (RAI-HC), this study identified factors associated with home care costs for recipients of home care services with Alzheimer disease or related dementias, multiple sclerosis, and/or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. As part of this study, the effectiveness of the Resource Utilization Groups for Home Care (RUG-III/HC), a case-mix classification system developed for the RAI-HC, in predicting care costs for this population, was also tested. Clinical characteristics indicative of greater disease severity had high levels of significance in predicting home care costs. In particular, the RUG-III/HC was highly predictive of home care costs for 3 neurological conditions, indicating the validity of this case-mix system for this population. With the increasing prevalence of neurological conditions and demand for home care services, future studies should continue to focus on identifying specific predictors care costs for those with neurological conditions in this care setting.

Chronic disease management models in nursing homes: a scoping review.

OBJECTIVES: Nursing home (NH) residents experience a high burden of chronic disease. Chronic disease management (CDM) can be a challenge, as the context of care provision and the way care is provided impact care delivery. This scoping review aimed to identify types of chronic diseases studied in intervention studies in NHs, influential contextual factors addressed by interventions and future CDM research considerations. DESIGN: The scoping review followed guidelines by Arksey and O'Malley (2005) and Levac, Colquhoun and O'Brien (2010). Six reviewers screened citations for inclusion. Data extraction was performed by one reviewer and verified by a second reviewer. DATA SOURCES: We searched four databases: CINAHL, EMBASE, PubMed and Scopus, in March 2018. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Studies were included if (1) aim of intervention was to improve CDM, (2) intervention incorporated the chronic care model (CCM), (3) included NH residents, (4) analysed the efficacy of the intervention and (5) sample included adults over age 65 years. Studies were limited to English or French language and to those published after 1996, when the CCM was first conceptualised. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Extracted information included the type of chronic disease, the type and number of CCM model components used in the intervention, the method of delivery of the intervention, and outcomes. RESULTS: On completion of the review of 11 917 citations, 13 studies were included. Most interventions targeted residents living with dementia. There was significant heterogeneity noted among designs, outcomes, and type and complexity of intervention components. There was little evaluation of the sustainability of interventions, including feasibility. CONCLUSIONS: Research was heavily focused on management of dementia. The most commonly included CCM components were multidisciplinary care, evidence-based care, coordinated care and clinical information systems. Future research should include subjective and objective outcomes, which are meaningful for NH residents, for common chronic diseases.

DIVERT-Collaboration Action Research and Evaluation (CARE) Trial Protocol: a multiprovincial pragmatic cluster randomised trial of cardiorespiratory management in home care.

INTRODUCTION: Home care clients are increasingly medically complex, have limited access to effective chronic disease management and have very high emergency department (ED) visitation rates. There is a need for more appropriate and targeted supportive chronic disease management for home care clients. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness and preliminary cost effectiveness of a targeted, person-centred cardiorespiratory management model. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The Detection of Indicators and Vulnerabilities of Emergency Room Trips (DIVERT) - Collaboration Action Research and Evaluation (CARE) trial is a pragmatic, cluster-randomised, multicentre superiority trial of a flexible multicomponent cardiorespiratory management model based on the best practice guidelines. The trial will be conducted in partnership with three regional, public-sector, home care providers across Canada. The primary outcome of the trial is the difference in time to first unplanned ED visit (hazard rate) within 6 months. Additional secondary outcomes are to identify changes in patient activation, changes in cardiorespiratory symptom frequencies and cost effectiveness over 6 months. We will also investigate the difference in the number of unplanned ED visits, number of inpatient hospitalisations and changes in health-related quality of life. Multilevel proportional hazard and generalised linear models will be used to test the primary and secondary hypotheses. Sample size simulations indicate that enrolling 1100 home care clients across 36 clusters (home care caseloads) will yield a power of 81% given an HR of 0.75. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval was obtained from the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board as well as each participating site's ethics board. Results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and for presentation at relevant conferences. Home care service partners will also be informed of the study's results. The results will be used to inform future support strategies for older adults receiving home care services. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03012256.

Predicting Future Health Transitions Among Newly Admitted Nursing Home Residents With Heart Failure.

OBJECTIVES: To understand how a heart failure diagnosis and admission health instability predict health transitions and outcomes among newly admitted nursing home residents. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study of linked administrative data, including the Continuing Care Report System MDS 2.0 for nursing homes, the Discharge Abstract Database for hospitalized patients, and National Ambulatory Care Reporting System to track emergency department visits. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Older adults, aged 65 years and above, admitted to nursing homes in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia, Canada, from 2010 to 2016. MEASURES: Mortality and hospitalization were plotted over 1 year. Multistate Markov models were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for transitions to different states of health in stability, hospitalization, and death, stratified by heart failure diagnosis and by interRAI Changes in Health and End-stage disease Signs and Symptoms (CHESS) score, at 90 days following admission to a nursing home. RESULTS: The final sample included 143,067 residents. Adverse events were most common in the first 90 days. A diagnosis of heart failure predicted worsening health instability, hospitalizations, and mortality. The effect of heart failure on hospitalizations and death was strongest for low baseline health instability (CHESS = 0; OR 1.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.58-1.68, and OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.57-1.86, respectively), versus moderate instability (CHESS = 1-2; OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.32-1.39, and OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.41-1.55), versus high instability (CHESS = 3; OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.03-1.23, and OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.11-1.32). The magnitude of the impact of a heart failure diagnosis was greatest for lower baseline health instability. Residents with the highest degree of health instability were also most likely to die in hospital. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: A diagnosis of heart failure and health instability provide complementary information to predict transfers, deaths, and adverse outcomes. Clearly identifying these at-risk patients may be useful in targeting interventions in nursing homes.

Coordinating care for older adults in primary care settings: understanding the current context.

BACKGROUND: It is well known that older adults are high users of the health care system. Older adults with chronic conditions receive care from multiple providers, across multiple settings, and this care is often unorganized and confusing. In 2005, Ontario established a model of inter-professional primary care (family health teams) with the aim of providing enhanced interdisciplinary primary care to patients. Primary care requires an in-depth understanding of the operations of primary care teams and their relationships with other community services. The aim of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of the current operations of two family health teams in Ontario, including their current processes for referrals, information sharing, and engagement of patients in decision-making. METHODS: Focus group and individual semi-structured interviews with health care providers were conducted. Purposeful sampling was used to ensure information was obtained from different professional perspectives. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Using NVivo 10, data were analyzed using line by line thematic analysis techniques. A cluster technique was then applied to group similar codes into themes. RESULTS: Three focus group interviews (involving 4-6 health care providers/focus group) and six individual interviews were conducted with health care providers from two primary care teams and surrounding community care organizations. Six key themes were identified: 1) challenges engaging older adults in decisions about their care; 2) who is responsible for coordinating the care? 3) fragmented information sharing between health care providers; 4) lack of standardized referral processes and follow-up; 5) identifying services in the community for older adults; and 6) caring for older adults in rural communities. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide an in-depth understanding of the current context in which the primary care teams are currently operating. Improved primary care will require stronger processes of coordination, greater knowledge of and connections with other community services, and enhanced patient engagement processes. This information provides a helpful basis for implementing interventions in primary care.

Geriatric syndromes predict postdischarge outcomes among older emergency department patients: findings from the interRAI Multinational Emergency Department Study.

OBJECTIVES: Identifying older emergency department (ED) patients with clinical features associated with adverse postdischarge outcomes may lead to improved clinical reasoning and better targeting for preventative interventions. Previous studies have used single-country samples to identify limited sets of determinants for a limited number of proxy outcomes. The objective of this study was to identify and compare geriatric syndromes that influence the probability of postdischarge outcomes among older ED patients from a multinational context. METHODS: A multinational prospective cohort study of ED patients aged 75 years or older was conducted. A total of 13 ED sites from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Iceland, India, and Sweden participated. Patients who were expected to die within 24 hours or did not speak the native language were excluded. Of the 2,475 patients approached for inclusion, 2,282 (92.2%) were enrolled. Patients were assessed at ED admission with the interRAI ED Contact Assessment, a geriatric ED assessment. Outcomes were examined for patients admitted to a hospital ward (62.9%, n=1,436) or discharged to a community setting (34.0%, n=775) after an ED visit. Overall, 3% of patients were lost to follow-up. Hospital length of stay (LOS) and discharge to higher level of care was recorded for patients admitted to a hospital ward. Any ED or hospital use within 28 days of discharge was recorded for patients discharged to a community setting. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were used to describe determinants using standard and multilevel logistic regression. RESULTS: A multi-country model including living alone (OR=1.78, p≤0.01), informal caregiver distress (OR=1.69, p=0.02), deficits in ambulation (OR=1.94, p≤0.01), poor self-report (OR = 1.84, p≤0.01), and traumatic injury (OR=2.18, p≤0.01) best described older patients at risk of longer hospital lengths of stay. A model including recent ED visits (OR=2.10, p≤0.01), baseline functional impairment (OR=1.68, p≤0.01), and anhedonia (OR=1.73, p≤0.01) best described older patients at risk of proximate repeat hospital use. A sufficiently accurate and generalizable model to describe the risk of discharge to higher levels of care among admitted patients was not achieved. CONCLUSIONS: Despite markedly different health care systems, the probability of long hospital lengths of stay and repeat hospital use among older ED patients is detectable at the multinational level with moderate accuracy. This study demonstrates the potential utility of incorporating common geriatric clinical features in routine clinical examination and disposition planning for older patients in EDs.

Adverse events associated with hospitalization or detected through the RAI-HC assessment among Canadian home care clients.

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of adverse events (AEs) in care settings is a patient safety concern that has significant consequences across healthcare systems. Patient safety problems have been well documented in acute care settings; however, similar data for clients in home care (HC) settings in Canada are limited. The purpose of this Canadian study was to investigate AEs in HC, specifically those associated with hospitalization or detected through the Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care (RAI-HC). METHOD: A retrospective cohort design was used. The cohort consisted of HC clients from the provinces of Nova Scotia, Ontario, British Columbia and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. RESULTS: The overall incidence rate of AEs associated with hospitalization ranged from 6% to 9%. The incidence rate of AEs determined from the RAI-HC was 4%. Injurious falls, injuries from other than fall and medication-related events were the most frequent AEs associated with hospitalization, whereas new caregiver distress was the most frequent AE identified through the RAI-HC. CONCLUSION: The incidence of AEs from all sources of data ranged from 4% to 9%. More resources are needed to target strategies for addressing safety risks in HC in a broader context. Tools such as the RAI-HC and its Clinical Assessment Protocols, already available in Canada, could be very useful in the assessment and management of HC clients who are at safety risk.

Predicting heart failure mortality in frail seniors: comparing the NYHA functional classification with the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) 2.0.

BACKGROUND: Though the NYHA functional classification is recommended in clinical settings, concerns have been raised about its reliability particularly among older patients. The RAI 2.0 is a comprehensive assessment system specifically developed for frail seniors. We hypothesized that a prognostic model for heart failure (HF) developed from the RAI 2.0 would be superior to the NYHA classification. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a HF-specific prognostic model based on the RAI 2.0 is superior to the NYHA functional classification in predicting mortality in frail older HF patients. METHODS: Secondary analysis of data from a prospective cohort study of a HF education program for care providers in long-term care and retirement homes. Univariate analyses identified RAI 2.0 variables predicting death at 6 months. These and the NYHA classification were used to develop logistic models. RESULTS: Two RAI 2.0 models were derived. The first includes six items: "weight gain of 5% or more of total body weight over 30 days", "leaving 25% or more food uneaten", "unable to lie flat", "unstable cognitive, ADL, moods, or behavioural patterns", "change in cognitive function" and "needing help to walk in room"; the C statistic was 0.866. The second includes the CHESS health instability scale and the item "requiring help walking in room"; the C statistic was 0.838. The C statistic for the NYHA scale was 0.686. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that data from the RAI 2.0, an instrument for comprehensive assessment of frail seniors, can better predict mortality than the NYHA classification.

Integrated care for the frail elderly.

Chronic disease management initiatives have thus far focused on single disease entities. The challenge of an aging population is the occurrence of multiple diseases, complicated by geriatric syndromes, in the same person. The term frailty is used to denote such persons, who are more vulnerable to poor health outcomes when challenged by a health stressor. In this paper, it is argued that frailty is a chronic condition and thus requires a chronic disease management approach. Hospital-based and community interventions for managing frail seniors are discussed, with a focus on enhancing primary care, and with appropriate and targeted support from geriatric specialists in the form of capacity building as well as direct clinical service. Finally, a model for integrating individual geriatric interventions into a broader system is proposed.

Screening for cognitive deficits using the Montreal cognitive assessment tool in outpatients ≥65 years of age with heart failure.

There is strong evidence to suggest that heart failure (HF) is an independent risk factor for cognitive impairment (CI). The combination of CI and HF is associated with increased mortality, repeat hospitalization, and poor quality of life. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the presence of CI in older patients with HF using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a brief screening instrument for CI. We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study using the MoCA in outpatients with HF who were ≥ 65 years of age. Forty-four patients (mean ± SD 76 ± 6.6 years of age) completed the MoCA. More than 70% of patients scored below the MoCA cutoff score of 26, suggesting the presence of CI. However, 91% of patients with New York Heart Association classes III to IV versus 52% of patients with classes I to II had a MoCA score < 26 (p = 0.004). Patients with a recent hospital admission were more likely to have a MoCA score < 26 versus patients without a recent hospital admission (89% vs 62%, respectively, p < 0.045). Cognitive domain subscores showing significant differences (p <0.01) were short-term memory, visuospatial function, executive function, and language. In conclusion, this study sample represented a group of older patients with HF and no suspected or documented CI, but screening with the MoCA detected CI in >70% of the sample. The presence of CI was significantly more common in patients with advanced HF symptoms or a recent hospitalization. Future studies need to determine if the MoCA can identify the presence of CI that is predictive of adverse clinical outcomes in the HF population.