Understanding Perspectives of Frequently-Admitted Hospital Patients

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: High Utilizers of Hospital Care; Patient-Centered Care; Continuity of Patient Care
• Interventions: Other: CHAMP

• Registration Number: NCT03097640
• Lead Sponsor: Northwestern University

Brief Summary

This study evaluates the clinical outcomes of a novel program designed to target patients who are high-utilizers of hospital services. Patients who are frequently admitted to medical services - "high-utilizers" - present a unique set of challenges to providers and the health care system that require a different way of approaching chronic illness. The Complex High Admission Management Program (CHAMP) is an innovative model of care consisting of a small team of providers who establish continuity relationships with high-utilizer patients. CHAMP strives to provide effective, high value care via a longitudinal relationship-based care model through provider continuity, intensive case management, and personalized care plans. To better understand the potential outcomes of CHAMP, this study is a longitudinal, prospective, randomized, controlled trial of medical high-utilizers enrolled in CHAMP compared to a group of high-utilizer patients receiving usual care.

Detailed Description

Frequent users of hospital services, otherwise known as hospital "high-utilizers," comprise a diverse patient population that pose unique challenges to the current US health care delivery model. The Complex High Admission Management Program (CHAMP), implemented at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL, seeks to improve care for high-utilizer patients through provider continuity, intensive case management, and developing personalized care plans that span inpatient, outpatient, and emergency care environments.

Preliminary evaluation of CHAMP has shown a 38% decrease in 30-day unplanned hospital readmissions and an 18% decrease in ED encounters over a 6-month time period, when compared to an equal time period pre-CHAMP.

Patients are eligible for the program if they are readmitted to the hospital three times within a twelve-month period. Due to the time and resource limitations of the CHAMP team, not all patients meeting these criteria can be enrolled at once. Patients will thus be randomly selected to be enrolled in CHAMP or will receive usual care. This study plans to evaluate the difference in outcomes between patients enrolled in CHAMP and those receiving usual care by answering the following questions:

To what extent do high-utilizer patients enrolled in CHAMP differ in their level of trust in providers, self-assessed coping skills, daily symptom burden, perceived functionality, and attitudes about the healthcare system when compared to a control group of high utilizer patients receiving usual care? We will assess patient responses to a series of surveys assessing trust, feelings of discrimination, activation, satisfaction with care, and level of social functioning.

What are the healthcare utilization rates of high-utilizer patients enrolled in CHAMP compared to a control group of high-utilizer patients receiving usual care? We will compare rates of (a) hospital admission and (b) utilization (including length of stay) among high-utilizer patients enrolled in CHAMP as compared to high-utilizer patients not enrolled in the program.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2016-11
• Study First Submitted: 2017-03-27
• Study First Submitted QC: 2017-03-27
• Study First Posted: 2017-03-31
• Primary Completion: 2020-07
• Status Verified: 2021-10
• Study Completion: 2021-10
• Last Update Submitted: 2021-10-01
• Last Update Posted: 2021-10-04

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 151

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

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Exclusion Criteria

• Patients who are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, patients admitted to Oncology services (as we have found that this latter group has a multidisciplinary care team already in place), or patients actively followed by the Heart Failure Bridge and Transition (BAT) Team, a different quality improvement intervention designed to reduce readmissions among patients admitted for acute decompensated heart failure.
• Participants will be excluded if they are disoriented to person, place, or time, or are unable to consent for any other reason.
• Minors, pregnant women, and prisoners will also be excluded.

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
CHAMP	CHAMP	Participants enrolled in CHAMP are followed by a team of a social worker and physician across the care continuum. CHAMP team members visit patients in the ED and on inpatient floors. Along with the patient's input, the team develops an Individualized Care Plan outlining the patient's medical and social history and providing recommendations to other providers on specific aspects of their care. Care plans are reviewed with patients on an individual basis and reviewed periodically by the CHAMP providers. CHAMP-enrolled participants are scheduled for physician and social worker follow-up appointments at the CHAMP clinic; this time is used to provide intensive case management, medical care, and psychosocial support.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Readmission Rate	180-days from indexed hospital discharge	180-day Inpatient Readmission Rate (as defined by Medicare) to Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Readmission Rate	90 days from indexed hospital discharge	Inpatient Readmission Rate
Inpatient Admissions-total	180 days from indexed hospital discharge	Inpatient Admissions to all hospitals, as reported by patient
Clinic Visits	180 days from indexed hospital discharge	Number of total clinic visits
Hospital Length of Stay	90 days from indexed hospital discharge	Average Length of Stay at NMH during time period
ER Admissions	90 days from indexed hospital discharge	ER Visits to Northwestern Memoria
Patient-Centered Outcomes	180 days from indexed hospital discharge	Responses to PROMIS Profile Scales, Trust in Physicians, Patient Activation, and Feelings of Discrimination
Inpatient Admissions	180 days from indexed hospital discharge	Inpatient Admission Rate to Northwestern Memorial Hospital
ER Admissions-total	180 days from indexed hospital discharge	ER Visits to all hospitals, as reported by patient
Average costs	180 days from indexed hospital discharge	Estimated cost from billing code data for hospitalizations during time period

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Northwestern Memorial Hospital; 🇺🇸 Chicago, Illinois, United States