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Association of Discharge to Home vs Institutional Postacute Care With Outcomes After Lower Extremity Joint Replacement.

ABSTRACT: Importance:Changes in financial incentives have led to more patients being discharged home than to institutional forms of postacute care, such as skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), after elective lower extremity total joint replacement (LEJR). Objective:To evaluate the association of this change with hospital readmissions, surgical complications, and mortality. Design, Setting, and Participants:This cohort study used cross-temporal propensity-matching to identify 104?828 adult patients who were discharged home following LEJR between 2016 and 2018 (after changes in financial incentives) and 84?121 adult patients discharged to institutional forms of postacute care (eg, SNFs) between 2011 and 2013 (before changes in financial incentives). A difference-in-differences design was used to compare differences in outcomes between these groups to a propensity-matched group of patients discharged to institutional postacute care in both periods. Data were collected from Pennsylvania all-payer claims database, which includes all surgical procedures and hospitalizations across payers and hospitals in Pennsylvania. Data were analyzed between August 2019 and February 2020. Exposures:Type of postacute care (home, including home with home health vs institutional postacute care, including SNF, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and long-term acute care hospitals). Main Outcomes and Measures:Main outcomes were 30- and 90-day hospital readmissions, LEJR complication rates, and mortality rates. Results:Of 189?949 patients, 113?981 (60.0%) were women, and 83?444 (43.9%) were aged 40 to 64 years. The rate of discharge home increased from 63.6% (54?097 of 85?121) in 2011 to 2013 to 78.4% (82?199 of 104?828) in 2016 to 2018. In the adjusted difference-in-differences comparison, matched patients discharged home in 2016 to 2018 had significantly lower 30-day (difference, -2.9%; 95% CI, -4.2% to -1.6%) and 90-day (difference, -3.9%; 95% CI, -5.8% to -2.0%) readmission rates compared with similar patients sent to institutional postacute care in 2011 to 2013. Surgical complication and mortality rates were unchanged. Results were similar across payers and across hospital bundled payment participation status. Conclusions and Relevance:In this cohort study, increases in discharges home following LEJR surgery did not seem to be associated with increased harm during a period in which changes in financial incentives likely spurred observed changes in postacute care.

SUBMITTER: Burke RE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7584947 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Association of Discharge to Home vs Institutional Postacute Care With Outcomes After Lower Extremity Joint Replacement.

Burke Robert E RE Canamucio Anne A Medvedeva Elina E Hume Eric L EL Navathe Amol S AS

JAMA network open 20201001 10

<h4>Importance</h4>Changes in financial incentives have led to more patients being discharged home than to institutional forms of postacute care, such as skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), after elective lower extremity total joint replacement (LEJR).<h4>Objective</h4>To evaluate the association of this change with hospital readmissions, surgical complications, and mortality.<h4>Design, setting, and participants</h4>This cohort study used cross-temporal propensity-matching to identify 104 828 ad ...[more]

PMID: 33095251

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Project description:ImportanceBundled payments are an increasingly common alternative payment model for Medicare, yet there is limited evidence regarding their effectiveness.ObjectiveTo report interim outcomes from the first year of implementation of a bundled payment model for lower extremity joint replacement (LEJR).Design, setting, and participantsAs part of a 5-year, mandatory-participation randomized trial by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, eligible metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) were randomized to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) bundled payment model for LEJR episodes or to a control group. In the first performance year, hospitals received bonus payments if Medicare spending for LEJR episodes was below the target price and hospitals met quality standards. This interim analysis reports first-year data on LEJR episodes starting April 1, 2016, with data collection through December 31, 2016.ExposureRandomization of MSAs into the CJR bundled payment model group (75 assigned; 67 included) or to the control group without the CJR model (121 assigned; 121 included). Instrumental variable analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between inclusion of MSAs in the CJR model and outcomes.Main outcomes and measuresThe primary outcome was share of LEJR admissions discharged to institutional postacute care. Secondary outcomes included the number of days in institutional postacute care, discharges to other locations, Medicare spending during the episode (overall and for institutional postacute care), net Medicare spending during the episode, LEJR patient volume and patient case mix, and quality-of-care measures.ResultsAmong the 196 MSAs and 1633 hospitals, 131 285 eligible LEJR procedures were performed during the study period (mean volume, 110 LEJR episodes per hospital) among 130 343 patients (mean age, 72.5 [SD, 0.91] years; 65% women; 90% white). The mean percentage of LEJR admissions discharged to institutional postacute care was 33.7% (SD, 11.2%) in the control group and was 2.9 percentage points lower (95% CI, -4.95 to -0.90 percentage points) in the CJR group. Mean Medicare spending for institutional postacute care per LEJR episode was $3871 (SD, $1394) in the control group and was $307 lower (95% CI, -$587 to -$27) in the CJR group. Mean overall Medicare spending per LEJR episode was $22 872 (SD, $3619) in the control group and was $453 lower (95% CI, -$909 to $3) in the CJR group, a statistically nonsignificant difference. None of the other secondary outcomes differed significantly between groups.Conclusions and relevanceIn this interim analysis of the first year of the CJR bundled payment model for LEJR among Medicare beneficiaries, MSAs covered by CJR, compared with those that were not, had a significantly lower percentage of discharges to institutional postacute care but no significant difference in total Medicare spending per LEJR episode. Further evaluation is needed as the program is more fully implemented.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03407885; American Economic Association Registry Identifier: AEARCTR-0002521.

Project description:ImportanceMuch of the evidence for bundled payments has been drawn from models in the traditional Medicare program. Although private insurers are increasingly offering bundled payment programs, it is not known whether they are associated with changes in episode spending and quality.ObjectiveTo evaluate whether a voluntary bundled payment program offered by a national Medicare Advantage insurer was associated with changes in episode spending or quality of care for beneficiaries receiving lower extremity joint replacement (LEJR) surgery.Design, setting, and participantsCross-sectional study of 23 034 LEJR surgical episodes that emulated a stepped-wedge design by using the time-varying, geographically staggered rollout of the bundled payment program from January 1, 2012, to September 30, 2019. Episode-level multivariable regression models were estimated within practice to compare changes before and after program participation, using episodes at physician practices that had not yet begun participating in the program during a given time period (but would go on to do so) as the control. Data analyses were performed from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.ExposuresPhysician practice participation in the bundled payment program.Main outcomes and measuresThe primary outcome was episode spending (plan and beneficiary). Secondary outcomes included postacute care use (skilled nursing facility and home health care), surgical setting (inpatient vs outpatient), and quality (90-day complications [including deep vein thrombosis, wound infection, fracture, or dislocation] and readmissions).ResultsThe final analytic sample included 23 034 LEJR episodes (6355 bundled episodes and 16 679 control episodes) from 109 physician practices participating in the program. Of the beneficiaries, 7730 were male and 15 304 were female, 3057 were Black, 19 351 were White, 447 were of other race or ethnicity (assessed according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services beneficiary race and ethnicity code, which reflects data reported to the Social Security Administration), and 179 were of unknown race and ethnicity. The mean (SD) age was 70.9 (7.2) years. Participation in the bundled payment program was associated with a 2.7% (95% CI, 1.3%-4.1%) decrease in spending per episode (mean episodic spending, $21 964 [95% CI, $21 636-$22 296] vs $22 562 [95% CI, $22 346-$22 779]), as well as reductions in skilled nursing facility use after discharge (21.3% for bundled episodes vs 25.0% for control episodes; odds ratio [OR], 0.81 [95% CI, 0.67-0.98]) and increased use of the outpatient surgical setting (14.1% for bundled episodes vs 8.4% for control episodes; OR, 1.79 [95% CI, 1.53-2.09]). The program was not associated with changes in quality outcomes, including 90-day complications (8.8% for bundled episodes vs 8.6% for control episodes; OR, 1.02 [95% CI, 0.86-1.20]) and readmissions (4.3% for bundled episodes vs 4.6% for control episodes; OR, 0.92 [95% CI, 0.75-1.13]).Conclusions and relevanceIn this study of an LEJR bundled payment program offered by a national Medicare Advantage insurer, findings suggest that physician practice participation in the program was associated with a decrease in episode spending without changes in quality. Bundled payments offered by private insurers, including Medicare Advantage plans, are an alternate payment option to fee for service that may reduce spending for LEJR episodes while maintaining quality of care.

Project description:ImportancePrior research concluded that institutional postacute care spending decreased under the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model. Less is known about how changes in institutional postacute care spending varied across different types of hospitals.ObjectiveTo measure hospital-level heterogeneity in the association of the CJR model with changes in institutional postacute care spending and to identify hospital characteristics associated with this variation.Design setting and participantsUsing 100% Medicare claims data, this cross-sectional study assessed institutional postacute care spending from 2016 to 2017 among US hospitals randomly selected to participate in the CJR model and control group hospitals that were eligible but not selected for the participation in the CJR model. A causal forest was used to estimate the treatment effect of the CJR model conditional on hospital characteristics. Analysis was conducted between October 2019 and October 2021.Main outcomes and measuresThe unit of analysis was each hospital; the outcome was the average per-episode Medicare spending for institutional postacute care within 90 days after hospital discharge for hip or knee joint replacement.ResultsThis study included 531 CJR participating hospitals and 658 control group hospitals from 2016 to 2017. The CJR model was associated with a $761 reduction in institutional postacute care spending (95% CI, -$1172 to -$351). The reduction in spending under the CJR model did not vary across conditional on hospital characteristics. Limited evidence was found for greater savings among hospitals with higher pre-CJR spending. However, this finding did not hold for hospitals in the highest quintile of pre-CJR spending.Conclusions and relevanceIn this cross-sectional study of 1189 hospitals, findings did not show strong evidence for significant heterogeneity in how the CJR model was associated with reductions in institutional postacute care spending across a range of hospital characteristics. Savings were not concentrated in hospitals with specific characteristics, such as hospitals with high-volume joint replacement or hospitals serving less medically or socially complex patients. Findings suggest that the CJR model created opportunities for savings across a spectrum of different hospitals.

Project description:ImportanceUse of postacute care is common and costly in the United States, but there is significant uncertainty about whether the choice of postacute care setting matters. Understanding these tradeoffs is particularly important as new alternative payment models push patients toward lower-cost settings for care.ObjectiveTo investigate the association of patient outcomes and Medicare costs of discharge to home with home health care vs discharge to a skilled nursing facility.Design, setting, and participantsA retrospective cohort study used Medicare claims data from short-term acute-care hospitals in the United States and skilled nursing facility and home health assessment data from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2016, on Medicare beneficiaries who were discharged from the hospital to home with home health care or to a skilled nursing facility. To address the endogeneity of treatment choice, an instrumental variables approach used the differential distance between the beneficiary's home zip code and the closest home health agency and the closest skilled nursing facility as an instrument.ExposuresReceipt of postacute care at home vs in a skilled nursing facility.Main outcomes and measuresReadmission within 30 days of hospital discharge, death within 30 days of hospital discharge, improvement in functional status during the postacute care episode, and Medicare payment for postacute care and total payment for the 60-day episode.ResultsA total of 17 235 854 hospitalizations (62.2% women and 37.8% men; mean [SD] age, 80.5 [7.9] years) were discharged either to home with home health care (38.8%) or to a skilled nursing facility (61.2%) during the study period. Discharge to home was associated with a 5.6-percentage point higher rate of readmission at 30 days compared with discharge to a skilled nursing facility (95% CI, 0.8-10.3; P = .02). There were no significant differences in 30-day mortality rates (-2.0 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.8-10.3; P = .12) or improved functional status (-1.9 percentage points; 95% CI, -12.0 to 8.2; P = .71). Medicare payment for postacute care was significantly lower for those discharged to home compared with those discharged to a skilled nursing facility (-$5384; 95% CI, -$6932 to -$3837; P < .001), as was total Medicare payment within the first 60 days after admission (-$4514; 95% CI, -$6932 to -$3837; P < .001).Conclusions and relevanceAmong Medicare beneficiaries eligible for postacute care at home or in a skilled nursing facility, discharge to home with home health care was associated with higher rates of readmission, no detectable differences in mortality or functional outcomes, and lower Medicare payments.

Project description:ImportanceThe Medicare comprehensive care for joint replacement (CJR) model, a mandatory bundled payment program started in April 2016 for hospitals in randomly selected metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), may help reduce postacute care (PAC) use and episode costs, but its impact on disparities between Medicaid and non-Medicaid beneficiaries is unknown.ObjectiveTo determine effects of the CJR program on differences (or disparities) in PAC use and outcomes by Medicare-Medicaid dual eligibility status.Design, setting, and participantsObservational cohort study of 2013-2017, based on difference-in-differences (DID) analyses on Medicare data for 1,239,452 Medicare-only patients, 57,452 dual eligibles with full Medicaid benefits, and 50,189 dual eligibles with partial Medicaid benefits who underwent hip or knee surgery in hospitals of 75 CJR MSAs and 121 control MSAs.Main outcome measuresRisk-adjusted differences in rates of institutional PAC [skilled nursing facility (SNF), inpatient rehabilitation, or long-term hospital care] use and readmissions; and for the subgroup of patients discharged to SNF, risk-adjusted differences in SNF length of stay, payments, and quality measured by star ratings, rate of successful discharge to community, and rate of transition to long-stay nursing home resident.ResultsThe CJR program was associated with reduced institutional PAC use and readmissions for patients in all 3 groups. For example, it was associated with reductions in 90-day readmission rate by 1.8 percentage point [DID estimate=-1.8; 95% confidence interval (CI), -2.6 to -0.9; P<0.001] for Medicare-only patients, by 1.6 percentage points (DID estimate=-1.6; 95% CI, -3.1 to -0.1; P=0.04) for full-benefit dual eligibles, and by 2.0 percentage points (DID estimate=-2.0; 95% CI, -3.6 to -0.4; P=0.01) for partial-benefit dual eligibles. These CJR-associated effects did not differ between dual eligibles (differences in above DID estimates=0.2; 95% CI, -1.4 to 1.7; P=0.81 for full-benefit patients; and -0.3; 95% CI, -1.9 to 1.3; P=0.74 for partial-benefit patients) and Medicare-only patients. Among patients discharged to SNF, the CJR program showed no effect on successful community discharge, transition to long-term care, or their persistent disparities.ConclusionsThe CJR program did not help reduce persistent disparities in readmissions or SNF-specific outcomes related to Medicare-Medicaid dual eligibility, likely due to its lack of financial incentives for reduced disparities and improved SNF outcomes.

Project description:BackgroundWe conducted a prospective observational study of patients undergoing elective primary hip or knee replacements to examine the feasibility of a postoperative home monitoring system as transitional care to support patients following their surgery in real time.ObjectiveThe primary outcome was the mean percentage of successful wireless transmissions from home of blood pressure levels, heart rate, oxygen saturation levels, and pain scores until postoperative day 4 with a feasibility target of ≥90%.MethodsPatients with an expected length of stay ≤1 day, age 18-80 years, Revised Cardiac Risk Index ≤ class 2, and caretakers willing to assist at home were eligible. Patient satisfaction, as a secondary outcome, was also evaluated. Wireless monitoring equipment (remote patient monitoring, Telus Canada) was obtained and a multidisciplinary care team was formed.ResultsWe conducted the study after obtaining Research Ethics Board approval; 54 patients completed the study: 21 males, 33 females. In total, we evaluated 9 hips, 4 hip resurfacing, 26 total knees, and 15 hemi-knees. The mean transmission rate was 96.4% (SD 5.9%; 95% CI 94.8-98.0). The median response to "I would recommend the Remote Monitoring System program to future patients" was 4.5 (interquartile range 4-5), with 1 being "strongly disagree" and 5 "strongly agree." At 30 days postop, there was no mortality or readmission.ConclusionsThis is an evolving new paradigm for postoperative care and the first feasibility study on monitoring biometrics after primary hip or knee replacement. Postoperative home monitoring combines current technology with real-time support by a multidisciplinary transitional care team after discharge, facilitating postsurgical care with successful wireless transmission of vitals. The postoperative home monitoring implementation is, therefore, generalizable to other surgical discharges from hospitals.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02143232; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02143232 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/71ugAhhIk).

Dataset Information

Association of Discharge to Home vs Institutional Postacute Care With Outcomes After Lower Extremity Joint Replacement.

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Association of Discharge to Home vs Institutional Postacute Care With Outcomes After Lower Extremity Joint Replacement.

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