Association of COVID-19 Vaccination Rates and Facility Characteristics on COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations, and Deaths in US Nursing Homes.

OBJECTIVES: Nursing home residents have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite recognition as a priority group for receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine, vaccine uptake and COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in nursing home facilities were variable across nursing homes. This study has 2 objectives: (1) to describe nursing facility characteristics associated with higher vs lower vaccination rates and (2) to estimate facility characteristics associated with COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, stratified by vaccination rate. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Facility-level data from 12,811 US nursing home facilities. METHODS: Using the CMS's Nursing Home COVID-19 Public File, we analyzed nursing home COVID-19 vaccination rates and outcomes from June 13, 2021, to September 19, 2021. We performed multivariable logistic regressions and identified facility characteristics associated with increased vaccination uptake and COVID-19 outcomes. RESULTS: Nursing homes with average vaccination rates ≤80% experienced higher total average COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths compared to facilities with >80% average vaccination rates during the Delta surge. Moreover, facility factors, such as higher average age of residents, proportion of non-white residents, nurse staffing hours, and occupancy rates, were variably associated with increased risk of COVID-19 outcomes. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Facilities with higher resident vaccination rates experienced lower average COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in US nursing homes. Access to vaccines may play a role in mitigating harm associated with infectious diseases. Additionally, facility factors associated with increased adverse outcomes were variably associated with increased odds of COVID-19 outcomes, often, irrespective of vaccination level. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and as the possibility of other infectious disease variants emerge, this research provides insight into facility factors, including vaccine uptake, that may mitigate adverse outcomes.

Prevalence and Risk of Behavioral Symptoms among Patients with Insomnia and Alzheimer's Disease: A Retrospective Database Analysis.

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the prevalence and patterns of behavioral symptoms, including agitation/aggression (AA), psychotic symptoms (PS), anxiety/mood disorders (MD), and delirium among patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their association with diagnosed insomnia. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted using the MarketScan Multi-State Medicaid Database 2016-2020. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Patients aged ≥50 with newly diagnosed AD (N = 56,904) were identified during 2017-2019 and categorized into insomnia and non-insomnia groups based on billing codes recorded in medical and pharmacy claims. METHODS: The index date was defined as the earliest date of diagnosis/medication of insomnia. The new diagnosis of AD had to be established within 12 months before (baseline) or 3 months after the index date. Point prevalence of behavioral symptoms was estimated during baseline and the 12-month follow-up period. Propensity score matching was performed to match patients with and without insomnia. Multivariable conditional logistic regression was used to assess the risk of diagnosis of behavioral symptoms among insomnia and non-insomnia groups. RESULTS: The study cohort included 7808 patients with newly diagnosed AD (mean age = 79.4, SD = 9.6 years). The point prevalence of behavioral symptoms was as follows: among those with insomnia (n = 3904), in the baseline, AA = 9.0%, PS = 12.5%, and MD = 57.8%, and during the follow-up, AA = 13.9%, PS = 16.3%, and MD = 72.1%; among those without insomnia (n = 3904), in the baseline, AA = 6.2%, PS = 9.2%, and MD = 41.4%; and during the follow-up, AA = 7.4%, PS = 10.4%, and MD = 49.2%. The likelihood of being diagnosed with any behavioral symptoms in the follow-up period was significantly higher among patients with insomnia than those without [adjusted odds ratio (OR), 2.7; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.4-3.1]. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: In patients with AD, prevalence of behavioral symptoms and likelihood of being diagnosed with behavioral symptoms were significantly higher among patients with diagnosed insomnia. Further investigation is needed to understand the relationship between insomnia and behavioral symptoms in patients with AD.

Social determinants predict whether Medicare beneficiaries are offered a Comprehensive Medication Review.

BACKGROUND: Medication reviews through Medicare's Medication Therapy Management (MTM) program may improve patient outcomes and lower health system costs, but these effects could be limited by a program design that does not address social determinants of health. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effects of social determinants of health on the odds of an eligible Medicare beneficiary not being offered Comprehensive Medication Review (CMR). METHODS: Using the full 100% sample of the 2016 Part D Medication Therapy Management Data File linked to Medicare Master Beneficiary Summary File, a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis was conducted to determine which social and demographic variables are most strongly associated with being eligible for a CMR but not being offered one. Descriptive statistics were generated using SAS studio 3.8. RESULTS: Variables associated with the highest odds of not receiving a CMR when eligible are residence in Louisiana OR 1.79 (95%CI 1.70-1.88), receiving the LIS OR 1.76 (1.73-1.79), dual eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid OR 1.25 (1.12-1.41), and Black race OR 1.19 (1.16-1.21). CONCLUSIONS: Social determinants of health, most strongly geography and low-income status, predict being eligible for but not being offered CMR. Race continues to be a factor in disparate access to MTM services.

Racial Disparities in Nursing Home Resident and Staff COVID-19 Vaccination Rates.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether staff and resident COVID-19 vaccination rates varied by racial heterogeneity of nursing homes, defined as proportion of residents who are White. METHODS: Cross-sectional study using data from the Medicare COVID-19 Nursing Home Database and LTCFocus.org to examine facility-level resident and staff vaccination status. General linear regression models assessed analyses of variance and tests for trend on proportion of residents and staff fully vaccinated as of June 13, 2021 by proportion of White residents in each facility. RESULTS: Over 12,000 (n=12,278) nursing homes provided resident measures and 8,838 reported staff measures. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) resident vaccination rate of nursing homes in the lowest and highest quantiles of White residents was significantly different at 72.74% (20.59%) and 85.65% (16.70%), respectively. Staff vaccination rates of nursing homes in the lowest and highest quantiles of White residents were not significantly different at 58.34% (25.09%) and 56.06% (19.32%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: A higher proportion of White residents per facility was associated with higher resident COVID-19 vaccination rates reflecting continued disparities in quality of care during the pandemic.

Patterns of opioid use in commercially insured patients with cancer.

OBJECTIVES: In an era of heightened opioid prescribing scrutiny, ensuring safe and adequate pain management is challenging. Understanding opioid use in patients with cancer can facilitate effective pain management regimens while minimizing safety concerns. This study characterized patterns of and factors associated with opioid use following a new cancer diagnosis. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: Our study included patients with a new cancer diagnosis aged 18 to 64 years in IQVIA PharMetrics Plus 2007-2013 who were continuously enrolled 12 months before receiving their cancer diagnosis and 24 months after. Study outcomes included opioid prevalence and measures of potentially high-risk opioid use (total days supplied, number of prescriptions, and morphine equivalent daily dose [MEDD]). Descriptive analyses and logistic regression were implemented. RESULTS: Of 191,616 eligible individuals, 93,739 (48.9%) received opioid prescriptions; of these, 56,025 (59.8%) were new opioid users. Opioid users received 4.6 prescriptions on average, covering 65 total days with a mean MEDD of 31.8 mg. Only 2387 (2.5%) patients received higher than recommended (≥ 90 mg) MEDD. Predictors of opioid use post cancer included prior opioid use, select comorbidities, use of nonopioid pain treatment adjuvants (muscle relaxants, sedative/hypnotics, anticonvulsants, antidepressants, and steroids), cancer site, and metastatic cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Fewer than half of patients received opioids in the 2 years following cancer onset. Among users, we found a relatively small proportion of potentially problematic opioid use. Further research is warranted to assess the adequacy of cancer pain treatment and determinants of high-risk opioid use.

Query mandates in prescription drug monitoring programs reduce opioid use among commercially insured patients with cancer.

BACKGROUND: Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) have been shown to reduce opioid use in the general and noncancer populations. However, evidence of PDMP impacts on patients with cancer remains limited. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to examine the impact of PDMP mandates on individual-level opioid use among patients with cancer. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study of patients with newly diagnosed cancer aged 18-65 years in the IQVIA PharMetrics Plus database (IQVIA Inc; nationally representative data of the U.S. commercially insured population in 49 states) between 2013 and 2015. The primary exposure was PDMP rigor (ranked from highest to lowest rigor): provider query + registration, query only, registration only, and unexposed. The study outcomes included (1) prevalent use among all individuals; and among opioid users (2) total days supplied, (3) daily morphine equivalent dose (MED), and (4) cumulative MED. RESULTS: Of the eligible cohort (n=28,353), 37.5% (10,656) received opioids after a cancer diagnosis. The individuals exposed to these mandates were as follows: query + registration: 3899 (13.8%); query only: 3459 (12.2%); registration only: 2764 (9.7%); and no mandates: 18,231 (64.3%). The PDMP mandates had no effect on prevalent opioid use. Compared with unexposed patients, those subject to query mandates-alone or with registration mandates-experienced 12 fewer opioid days supplied and a lower mean cumulative MED (-662 mg and -702 mg, respectively), P < 0.01. Registration-only mandates were associated with 21 days more (P < 0.01) total days supplied and lower daily MED (1.1 mg; P < 0.05) but had no statistically significant effect on cumulative MED (-46 mg, P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Query mandates are a stronger PDMP tool than registration mandates in reducing opioid days supplied and cumulative MED. Initiatives should target PDMP mandates toward intended patient groups to reduce high-risk opioid use without compromising adequate pain treatment.

Staffing and Protective Equipment Access Mitigated COVID-19 Penetration and Spread in US Nursing Homes During the Third Surge.

OBJECTIVES: During the last quarter of 2020-despite improved distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) and knowledge of COVID-19 management-nursing homes experienced the greatest increases in cases and deaths since the pandemic's beginning. We sought to update COVID-19 estimates of cases, hospitalization, and mortality and to evaluate the association of potentially modifiable facility-level infection control factors on odds and magnitude of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in nursing homes during the third surge of the pandemic. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Facility-level data from 13,156 US nursing home facilities. METHODS: Two series of multivariable logistic regression and generalized linear models to examine the association of infection control factors (personal protective equipment and staffing) on incidence and magnitude, respectively, of confirmed COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in nursing home residents reported in the last quarter of 2020. RESULTS: Nursing homes experienced steep increases in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths during the final quarter of 2020. Four-fifths (80.51%; n = 10,592) of facilities reported at least 1 COVID-19 case, 49.44% (n = 6504) reported at least 1 hospitalization, and 49.76% (n = 6546) reported at least 1 death during this third surge. N95 mask shortages were associated with increased odds of at least 1 COVID-19 case [odds ratio (OR) 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-1.40] and hospitalization (1.26, 95% CI 1.13-1.40), as well as larger numbers of hospitalizations (1.11, 95% CI 1.02-1.20). Nursing aide shortages were associated with lower odds of at least 1 COVID-19 death (1.23, 95% CI 1.12-1.34) and higher hospitalizations (1.09, 95% CI 1.01-1.17). The number of nursing hours per resident per day was largely insignificant across all outcomes. Of note, smaller (<50-bed) and midsized (50- to 150-bed) facilities had lower odds yet higher magnitude of all COVID outcomes. Bed occupancy rates >75% increased odds of experiencing a COVID-19 case (1.48, 95% CI 1.35-1.62) or death (1.25, 95% CI 1.17-1.34). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Adequate staffing and PPE-along with reduced occupancy and smaller facilities-mitigate incidence and magnitude of COVID-19 cases and sequelae. Addressing shortcomings in these factors is critical to the prevention of infections and adverse health consequences of a next surge among vulnerable nursing home residents.