Dataset Information

Association between continuity of provider-adjusted regularity of general practitioner contact and unplanned diabetes-related hospitalisation: a data linkage study in New South Wales, Australia, using the 45 and Up Study cohort.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To assess the association between continuity of provider-adjusted regularity of general practitioner (GP) contact and unplanned diabetes-related hospitalisation or emergency department (ED) presentation.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Individual-level linked self-report and administrative health service data from New South Wales, Australia.

Participants

27 409 survey respondents aged ?45 years with a prior history of diabetes and at least three GP contacts between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2015.

Main outcome measures

Unplanned diabetes-related hospitalisations or ED presentations, associated costs and bed days.

Results

Twenty-one per cent of respondents had an unplanned diabetes-related hospitalisation or ED presentation. Increasing regularity of GP contact was associated with a lower probability of hospitalisation or ED presentation (19.9% for highest quintile, 23.5% for the lowest quintile). Conditional on having an event, there was a small decrease in the number of hospitalisations or ED presentations for the low (-6%) and moderate regularity quintiles (-8%), a reduction in bed days (ranging from -30 to -44%) and a reduction in average cost of between -23% and -41%, all relative to the lowest quintile. When probability of diabetes-related hospitalisation or ED presentation was included, only the inverse association with cost remained significant (mean of $A3798 to $A6350 less per individual, compared with the lowest regularity quintile). Importantly, continuity of provider did not significantly modify the effect of GP regularity for any outcome.

Conclusions

Higher regularity of GP contact-that is more evenly dispersed, not necessarily more frequent care-has the potential to reduce secondary healthcare costs and, conditional on having an event, the time spent in hospital, irrespective of continuity of provider. These findings argue for the advocacy of regular care, as distinct from solely continuity of provider, when designing policy and financial incentives for GP-led primary care.

SUBMITTER: Moorin RE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6561442 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Association between continuity of provider-adjusted regularity of general practitioner contact and unplanned diabetes-related hospitalisation: a data linkage study in New South Wales, Australia, using the 45 and Up Study cohort.

Moorin Rachael E RE Youens David D Preen David B DB Harris Mark M Wright Cameron M CM

BMJ open 20190605 6

<h4>Objective</h4>To assess the association between continuity of provider-adjusted regularity of general practitioner (GP) contact and unplanned diabetes-related hospitalisation or emergency department (ED) presentation.<h4>Design</h4>Cross-sectional study.<h4>Setting</h4>Individual-level linked self-report and administrative health service data from New South Wales, Australia.<h4>Participants</h4>27 409 survey respondents aged ≥45 years with a prior history of diabetes and at least three GP co ...[more]

PMID: 31171551

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Project description:BackgroundIn Australia, as in many high income countries, there has been a movement to improve out-of-hospital care. If primary care improvements can yield appropriately lower hospital use, this would improve productive efficiency. This is especially important among 'high cost users', a small group of patients accounting for disproportionately high hospitalisation costs. This study aimed to assess the association between regularity of general practitioner (GP) care and 'high use' hospitalisation.MethodsThis retrospective, cohort study used linked administrative and survey data from the 45 and Up Study, conducted in New South Wales, Australia. The exposure was regularity of GP care between 1 July 2005 and 30 June 2009, categorised by quintile (lowest to highest). Outcomes were 'high use' of hospitalisation (defined as ≥3 and ≥ 5 admissions within 12 months), extended length of stay (LOS, ≥30 days), a combined metric (≥3 hospitalisations in a 12 month period where ≥1 hospitalisation was ≥30 days) and 30-day readmission between 1 July 2009 and 31 December 2017. Associations were assessed using multivariable logistic regression. Potential for outcome prevention in a hypothetical scenario where all individuals attain the highest GP regularity was estimated via the population attributable fraction (PAF).ResultsOf 253,500 eligible participants, 15% had ≥3 and 7% had ≥5 hospitalisations in a 12-month period. Five percent of the cohort had a hospitalisation lasting ≥30 days and 25% had a readmission within 30 days. Compared with lowest regularity, highest regularity was associated with between 6% (p < 0.001) and 11% (p = 0.027) lower odds of 'high use'. There was a 7-8% reduction in odds for all regularity levels above 'low' regularity for LOS ≥30 days. Otherwise, there was no clear sequential reduction in 'high use' with increasing regularity. The PAF associated with a move to highest regularity ranged from 0.05 to 0.13. The number of individuals who could have had an outcome prevented was estimated to be between 269 and 2784, depending on outcome.ConclusionsHigh GP regularity is associated with a decreased likelihood of 'high use' hospitalisation, though for most outcomes there was not an apparent linear association with regularity.

Project description:ImportanceReducing Medicare expenditures is a key objective of Medicare's transition to value-based reimbursement models. Improving access to primary care is an important way to reduce expenditures, yet less is known about how visits should be organized to maximize savings.ObjectiveTo examine the association between Medicare savings and primary care visit patterns.Design, setting, and participantsThis retrospective cohort study used data from a 5% sample of traditional Medicare claims from 2016 to 2019. Participants had at least 3 primary care visits with at least 180 days between the first and the last visit, were not enrolled in Medicare Advantage, did not have end-stage kidney disease, and were not institutionalized. Data were analyzed from June 2022 to April 2023.ExposuresPrimary care visit patterns: visit frequency, regularity, continuity of care.Main outcomes and measuresSavings in Medicare expenditures; risk-adjusted Medicare expenditures, number of emergency department (ED) visits, and hospitalizations.ResultsAmong 504 471 beneficiaries (298 422 [59.16%] women; mean [SD] age, 74.26 [10.41] years), temporally regular visits with higher continuity were associated with the highest savings. For these patients, the savings increased with increasing visit frequencies, with peak savings observed at higher visit frequencies as clinical complexity increased. As regularity and continuity decreased, the association between savings and visit frequencies progressively inverted. The group with a regular and highly continuous pattern was associated with greater savings (175.87%; 95% CI, 167.40% to 184.33%; P < .001), lower risk-adjusted expenditures (-16.61%; 95% CI, -16.73% to -16.48%; P < .001), fewer risk-adjusted ED visits (-40.49%; 95% CI, -40.55% to -40.43%; P < .001), and fewer risk-adjusted hospitalizations (-53.32%; 95% CI, -53.49% to -53.14%; P < .001) compared with the irregular noncontinuous group.Conclusions and relevanceIn this cohort study, savings in Medicare expenditures and improvements in acute care utilization were associated with visit frequency, regularity, and continuity in primary care in an interrelated fashion such that optimization of primary care visit patterns along each axis were associated with the largest improvement in outcomes. Demonstrating the magnitude and interdependence of these associations is useful for health care professionals and policymakers as Medicare continues its transition to value-based reimbursement models.

Project description:OBJECTIVES:To identify modifiable factors leading to unplanned readmission and characterize differences in adjusted unplanned readmission rates across hospitals. DESIGN:Retrospective cohort study using prospectively collected clinical registry data SETTING:: Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium clinical registry. PATIENTS:Patients admitted to a pediatric cardiac ICU at Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium hospitals. INTERVENTIONS:None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:We examined pediatric cardiac ICU encounters in the Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium registry from October 2013 to March 2016. The primary outcomes were early (< 48?hr from pediatric cardiac ICU transfer) and late (2-7 d) unplanned readmission. Generalized logit models identified independent predictors of unplanned readmission. We then calculated observed-to-expected ratios of unplanned readmission and identified higher-than or lower-than-expected unplanned readmission rates for those with an observed-to-expected ratios greater than or less than 1, respectively, and a 95% CI that did not cross 1. Of 11,301 pediatric cardiac ICU encounters (16 hospitals), 62% were surgical, and 18% were neonates. There were 175 (1.6%) early unplanned readmission, and 300 (2.7%) late unplanned readmission, most commonly for respiratory (31%), or cardiac (28%) indications. In multivariable analysis, unique modifiable factors were associated with unplanned readmission. Although shorter time between discontinuation of vasoactive infusions and pediatric cardiac ICU transfer was associated with early unplanned readmission, nighttime discharge was independently associated with a greater likelihood of late unplanned readmission. Two hospitals had lower-than-expected unplanned readmission in both the early and late categories, whereas two other hospitals were higher-than-expected in both. CONCLUSIONS:This analysis demonstrated time from discontinuation of critical care therapies to pediatric cardiac ICU transfer as a significant, modifiable predictor of unplanned readmission. We identified two hospitals with lower-than-expected adjusted rates of both early and late unplanned readmission, suggesting that their systems are well designed to prevent unplanned readmission. This offers the possibility of disseminating best practices to other hospitals through collaborative learning.

Project description:BackgroundScheduled regular contact with the general practitioner (GP) may lower the risk of potentially avoidable hospitalisations (PAHs). Despite the high prevalence of multimorbidity, little is known about its effect on the relationship between regularity of GP contact and PAHs.ObjectiveTo investigate potential effect modification of multimorbidity on the relationship between regularity of GP contact and probability of PAHs.DesignA retrospective, cross-sectional study.Participants229,964 individuals aged 45 years and older from the 45 and Up Study in New South Wales, Australia, from 2009 to 2015.Main measuresThe main exposure was regularity of GP contact (capturing dispersion of GP contacts); the outcomes were PAHs evaluated by unplanned hospitalisations, chronic ambulatory care sensitive condition (ACSC) hospitalisations and unplanned chronic ACSC hospitalisations. Multivariable logistic regression models and population attributable fractions (PAF) were conducted to identify effect modification of multimorbidity, assessed by Rx-Risk comorbidity score.Key resultsCompared with the lowest quintile of regularity, the highest quintile had significantly lower predicted probability of unplanned admission (- 79.9 per 1000 people at risk, 95% confidence interval (CI) - 85.6; - 74.2), chronic ACSC (- 6.07 per 1000 people at risk, 95%CI - 8.07; - 4.08) and unplanned chronic ACSC hospitalisation (- 4.68 per 1000 people at risk, 95%CI - 6.11; - 3.26). Effect modification of multimorbidity was observed. Specifically, the PAF among people with no multimorbidity indicated that 31.7% (95%CI 28.7-34.4%) of unplanned, 36.4% (95%CI 25.1-45.9%) of chronic ACSC and 48.9% (95%CI 32.9-61.1%) of unplanned chronic ACSC hospitalisation would be reduced by a shift to the highest quintile of regularity. However, among people with 10+ morbidities, the proportional reduction was only 5.2% (95%CI 3.8-6.5%), 9.0% (95%CI 0.5-16.8%) and 17.8% (95%CI 5.4-28.5%), respectively.ConclusionsWeakening of the association between regularity and PAHs with increasing levels of multimorbidity suggests a need to improve primary care support to prevent PAHs for patients with multimorbidity.

Project description:BackgroundRegularity and continuity of general practitioner (GP) contacts are associated with reduced hospitalisation. Opportunities for improved medication management are cited as a potential cause.ObjectiveDetermine associations between continuity and regularity of primary care and statin use amongst individuals at risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes.DesignObservational cohort study using self-report and administrative data from 267,153 participants of the Sax Institute's 45 and Up Study conducted in New South Wales, Australia. from 2006 to 2009. Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) data, from Services Australia, were linked to survey, hospital and death data by the NSW Centre for Health Record Linkage.ParticipantsThe 45 and Up Study participants at risk of CVD outcomes based on self-report and administrative data, divided into existing users and potential users based on dispensing records through the exposure period.Main measuresThe Continuity of Care index (COC), measuring whether patients see the same GP, and an index assessing whether GP visits are on a regular basis, measured from July 2011 to June 2012. Amongst potential users, statin initiation from July 2012 to June 2013 was assessed using logistic regression; amongst existing users, adherence was assessed from July 2012 to June 2015 using Cox regression (non-adherence being 30 days without statins).Key resultsAmongst 29,420 potential users, the most regular quintile had 1.22 times the odds of initiating statin (95%CI 1.11-1.34), while the high continuity group had an odds ratio of 1.12 (95%CI 1.02-1.24). Amongst 30,408 existing users, the most regular quintile had 0.82 the hazard of non-adherence (95%CI 0.78-0.87); the high continuity group had a hazard ratio of 0.89 (95%CI 0.84-0.94).ConclusionsRegularity and continuity of care impact on medication management. It is possible that this mediates impacts on hospitalisation. Where there is a risk of unobserved confounding, potential causal pathways should be investigated.

Dataset Information

Association between continuity of provider-adjusted regularity of general practitioner contact and unplanned diabetes-related hospitalisation: a data linkage study in New South Wales, Australia, using the 45 and Up Study cohort.

Objective

Design

Setting

Participants

Main outcome measures

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Association between continuity of provider-adjusted regularity of general practitioner contact and unplanned diabetes-related hospitalisation: a data linkage study in New South Wales, Australia, using the 45 and Up Study cohort.

Similar Datasets

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