Dataset Information

Partnered research in healthcare delivery redesign for high-need, high-cost patients: development and feasibility of an Intensive Management Patient-Aligned Care Team (ImPACT).

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

We employed a partnered research healthcare delivery redesign process to improve care for high-need, high-cost (HNHC) patients within the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system.

Methods

Health services researchers partnered with VA national and Palo Alto facility leadership and clinicians to: 1) analyze characteristics and utilization patterns of HNHC patients, 2) synthesize evidence about intensive management programs for HNHC patients, 3) conduct needs-assessment interviews with HNHC patients (n?=?17) across medical, access, social, and mental health domains, 4) survey providers (n?=?8) about care challenges for HNHC patients, and 5) design, implement, and evaluate a pilot Intensive Management Patient-Aligned Care Team (ImPACT) for a random sample of 150 patients.

Results

HNHC patients accounted for over half (52 %) of VA facility patient costs. Most (94 %) had three or more chronic conditions, and 60 % had a mental health diagnosis. Formative data analyses and qualitative assessments revealed a need for intensive case management, care coordination, transitions navigation, and social support and services. The ImPACT multidisciplinary team developed care processes to meet these needs, including direct access to team members (including after-hours), chronic disease management protocols, case management, and rapid interventions in response to health changes or acute service use. Two-thirds of invited patients (n?=?101) enrolled in ImPACT, 87 % of whom remained actively engaged at 9 months. ImPACT is now serving as a model for a national VA intensive management demonstration project.

Conclusions

Partnered research that incorporated population data analysis, evidence synthesis, and stakeholder needs assessments led to the successful redesign and implementation of services for HNHC patients. The rigorous design process and evaluation facilitated dissemination of the intervention within the VA healthcare system.

Impact statement

Employing partnered research to redesign care for high-need, high-cost patients may expedite development and dissemination of high-value, cost-saving interventions.

SUBMITTER: Zulman DM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4239286 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Partnered research in healthcare delivery redesign for high-need, high-cost patients: development and feasibility of an Intensive Management Patient-Aligned Care Team (ImPACT).

Zulman Donna M DM Ezeji-Okoye Stephen C SC Shaw Jonathan G JG Hummel Debra L DL Holloway Katie S KS Smither Sasha F SF Breland Jessica Y JY Chardos John F JF Kirsh Susan S Kahn James S JS Asch Steven M SM

Journal of general internal medicine 20141201

<h4>Objectives</h4>We employed a partnered research healthcare delivery redesign process to improve care for high-need, high-cost (HNHC) patients within the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system.<h4>Methods</h4>Health services researchers partnered with VA national and Palo Alto facility leadership and clinicians to: 1) analyze characteristics and utilization patterns of HNHC patients, 2) synthesize evidence about intensive management programs for HNHC patients, 3) conduct needs-assessment int ...[more]

PMID: 25355084

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Project description:BACKGROUND:The assessment of unmet need is one way to gauge inequities in access to healthcare services. While there are multiple reasons for unmet need, financial barriers are a major reason particularly in low- and middle-income countries where healthcare systems do not offer financial protection. Moreover, accessibility and affordability are paramount in achieving universal health coverage. This study examines the extent of unmet need in Kenya due to financial barriers, the associated determinants, and the influence of regional variations. METHODS:We use data from the 2013 Kenya household health expenditure and utilization (KHHEUS) cross sectional survey. Self-reported unmet need due to lack of money and high costs of care is used to compute the outcome of interest. A multilevel regression model is employed to assess the determinants of cost-related unmet need, confounding for the effect of variations at the regional level. RESULTS:Cost-related barriers are the main cause of unmet need for outpatient and inpatient services, with wide variations across the counties. A positive association between county poverty rates and cost-related unmet is noted. Results reveal a higher intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.359(35.9%) for inpatient services relative to 0.091(9.1%) for outpatient services. Overall, differences between counties accounted for 9.4% (ICC ~ 0.094) of the total variance in cost-related unmet need. Factors that positively influence cost-related unmet need include older household heads, inpatient services, and urban residence. Education of household head, good self-rated health, larger household size, insured households, and higher wealth quintiles are negatively associated with cost-related unmet need. CONCLUSION:The findings underscore the important role of cost in enabling access to healthcare services. The county level is seen to have a significant influence on cost-related unmet need. The variations noted in cost-related unmet need across the counties signify the existence of wide disparities within and between counties. Scaling up of health financing mechanisms would fundamentally require a multi-layered approach with a focus on the relatively poor counties to address the variations in access. Further segmentation of the population for better targeting of health financing policies is paramount, to address equity in access for the most vulnerable and marginalized populations.

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Project description:OBJECTIVES:To investigate the characteristics and healthcare utilisation of high-cost patients and to compare high-cost patients across payers and countries. DESIGN:Systematic review. DATA SOURCES:PubMed and Embase databases were searched until 30 October 2017. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA AND OUTCOMES:Our final search was built on three themes: 'high-cost', 'patients', and 'cost' and 'cost analysis'. We included articles that reported characteristics and utilisation of the top-X% (eg, top-5% and top-10%) patients of costs of a given population. Analyses were limited to studies that covered a broad range of services, across the continuum of care. Andersen's behavioural model was used to categorise characteristics and determinants into predisposing, enabling and need characteristics. RESULTS:The studies pointed to a high prevalence of multiple (chronic) conditions to explain high-cost patients' utilisation. Besides, we found a high prevalence of mental illness across all studies and a prevalence higher than 30% in US Medicaid and total population studies. Furthermore, we found that high costs were associated with increasing age but that still more than halve of high-cost patients were younger than 65 years. High costs were associated with higher incomes in the USA but with lower incomes elsewhere. Preventable spending was estimated at maximally 10% of spending. The top-10%, top-5% and top-1% high-cost patients accounted for respectively 68%, 55% and 24% of costs within a given year. Spending persistency varied between 24% and 48%. Finally, we found that no more than 30% of high-cost patients are in their last year of life. CONCLUSIONS:High-cost patients make up the sickest and most complex populations, and their high utilisation is primarily explained by high levels of chronic and mental illness. High-cost patients are diverse populations and vary across payer types and countries. Tailored interventions are needed to meet the needs of high-cost patients and to avoid waste of scarce resources.

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Dataset Information

Partnered research in healthcare delivery redesign for high-need, high-cost patients: development and feasibility of an Intensive Management Patient-Aligned Care Team (ImPACT).

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Impact statement

Publications

Partnered research in healthcare delivery redesign for high-need, high-cost patients: development and feasibility of an Intensive Management Patient-Aligned Care Team (ImPACT).

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