Continuity of Care Is Associated with Medical Costs and Inpatient Days in Children with Cerebral Palsy.

Background: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) place a considerable burden on medical costs and add to an increased number of inpatient days in Taiwan. Continuity of care (COC) has not been investigated in this population thus far. Materials and Methods: We designed a retrospective population-based cohort study using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. Patients aged 0 to 18 years with CP catastrophic illness certificates were enrolled. We investigated the association of COC index (COCI) with medical costs and inpatient days. We also investigated the possible clinical characteristics affecting the outcome. Results: Over five years, children with CP with low COCI levels had higher medical costs and more inpatient days than did those with high COCI levels. Younger age at CP diagnosis, more inpatient visits one year before obtaining a catastrophic illness certificate, pneumonia, and nasogastric tube use increased medical expenses and length of hospital stay. Conclusions: Improving COC reduces medical costs and the number of inpatient days in children with CP. Certain characteristics also influence these outcomes.

The Effect of a Comprehensive Care Transition Model on Cost and Utilization for Medically Complex Children With Cerebral Palsy.

INTRODUCTION: Our aim was to evaluate cost and acute care utilization related to an organized approach to care coordination and transitional care after major acute care hospitalization for children with medical complexities, including cerebral palsy. METHODS: A retrospective cohort of 32 patients from Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital (RJPBH) who received the Care Beyond the Bedside model was compared with 151 patients receiving standard care elsewhere across Missouri. Claims data (2007-2012) were obtained from MoHealthNet, Missouri's Medicaid program, for all children with moderate to severe cerebral palsy (defined using approximated Gross Motor Function Classification System levels) who had at least one hospital visit during the study period (N = 183). Risk-adjusted linear and Poisson regression models were used to analyze per-member-per-month costs and three indicators of acute care utilization (emergency department visits, readmissions, and inpatient days). RESULTS: RJPBH patients were associated with statistically significant reductions in per-member-per-month costs (-21%), hospital readmissions (-66%), and inpatient days (-57%). DISCUSSION: RJPBH's enhanced interprofessional medical home-like model, including intense care coordination, psychosocial therapy, family and caregiver empowerment, and transitional care, may be keys to reducing cost and unnecessary hospital use for children with medical complexities with cerebral palsy who receive Medicaid.

Stakeholders' views of the introduction of assistive technology in the classroom: How family-centred is Australian practice for students with cerebral palsy?

BACKGROUND: With family-centred care widely recognized as a cornerstone for effective assistive technology service provision, the current study was undertaken to investigate to what extent such approaches were used by schools when assistive technology assessments and implementation occurred in the classroom. METHOD: In this cross-sectional study, we compare survey results from parents (n = 76), school staff (n = 33) and allied health professionals (n = 65) with experience in the use of high-tech assistive technology. Demographic characteristics and the stakeholders' perceived helpfulness and frequency attending assessment and set-up sessions were captured. To evaluate how family-centred the assistive technology services were perceived to be, the parents filled out the Measure of Processes of Care for Caregivers, and the professionals completed the Measure of Processes of Care for Service Providers. Descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance were used to conduct the data analysis. RESULTS: Findings show that parents are more involved during the assessment stage than during the implementation and that classroom teachers are often not involved in the initial stage. Speech pathologists in particular are seen to be to a great extent helpful when implementing assistive technology in the classroom. This study found that family-centred service is not yet fully achieved in schools despite being endorsed in early intervention and disability services for over 20 years. No statistically significant differences were found with respect to school staff and allied health professionals' roles, their years of experience working with students with cerebral palsy and the scales in the Measure of Processes of Care for Service Providers. CONCLUSION: To enhance the way technology is matched to the student and successfully implemented, classroom teachers need to be fully involved in the whole assistive technology process. The findings also point to the significance of parents' involvement, with the support of allied health professionals, in the process of selecting and implementing assistive technology in the classroom.

Protocol for a prospective observational study of conventional treatment and traditional Korean medicine combination treatment for children with cerebral palsy.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral palsy leads to many complications as well as delayed motor development, and early intensive rehabilitation in infancy, which is based on the theory of brain plasticity, is emphasized. In addition to conventional treatment, including physical, occupational, or speech-language therapies, children also have a demand for traditional Korean medicine interventions such as acupuncture or herbal medicine; however, a lack of evidence has made traditional Korean medicine difficult to implement in practice. We planned a multicentre, prospective, observational study to assess the effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of conventional treatment and traditional Korean medicine combination treatment for children with cerebral palsy. METHODS/DESIGN: Three hundred children with cerebral palsy aged 6 to 78 months will be recruited from six institutions. Data from each child are collected every month for a one-year period, during which time treatment might be changed or discontinued. A qualified investigator visits the sites to measure effectiveness variables, including Gross Motor Function Measure and Paediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory. Adverse events and cost-effectiveness variables are collected using surveys conducted at baseline, mid-study, and end of study, as well as monthly tracking surveys. In the analyses, participants will be classified into two groups: group A children will be the conventional treatment group with physical, occupational, speech-language or other conventional rehabilitation therapies, whereas group B children will be the combination treatment group with traditional Korean medicine interventions, that is, herbal medicine, chuna, moxibustion and acupuncture, in addition to conventional treatment. DISCUSSION: Only a few clinical case reports have evaluated the effectiveness and safety of traditional Korean medicine; therefore, more data are required to provide optimal information to children with cerebral palsy and their guardians. We hypothesized that traditional Korean medicine combination treatment for children with cerebral palsy would have benefits compared with conventional therapy alone. The findings of this study might provide informative data for conducting economic evaluations and developing clinical research on combination treatment for cerebral palsy in South Korea. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02223741.