Enhancing the Care Transitions Intervention With Peer Support to Reduce Disparities

Study Summary

Unplanned hospital readmissions are extremely costly to patients and our healthcare system. Being readmitted to the hospital also leads to increased risk of health complications for patients including infections and impairments in functioning. Hospital readmissions are particularly common among older adults. Further, racial/ethnic disparities are evident in readmission rates and are the greatest among African American and Latino/Hispanic older adults. Effective, sustainable, and culturally appropriate interventions to improve outcomes, reduce unplanned hospital readmissions, and reduce health disparities are urgently needed. The proposed randomized controlled trial will evaluate the effectiveness of a novel transitional care strategy designed to avoid unplanned hospital readmissions and improve patient health outcomes in a racially/ethnically diverse sample of older adults who have been admitted to the hospital due to a chronic health condition. Eric Coleman's Care Transitions Intervention (CTI) has been identified as the strategy most successfully implemented and evaluated in multiple settings and systems of care. CTI has been shown to reduce hospital readmissions for non-Hispanic White older adults, however its' effects have not been as strong for minority older adults in some studies and research trials have not recruited a sufficient number of racial/ethnic minorities to examine outcomes by race or ethnicity. Thus, it is unknown whether CTI is effective for racial/ethnic minority older adults who suffer disproportionately high readmission rates. Further, studies of transitions interventions suggest that older adult and racial/ethnic minority patients require additional assistance and support during transitions in care. The researchers hypothesize the addition of peer support will enhance and maximize the benefit of the CTI and increase its' cultural sensitivity and future sustainability. The proposed 3-arm trial is designed to evaluate the Care Transitions Int

Primary Outcome

The researchers will evaluate the Care Transitions Intervention (CTI) and CTI + Peer Support (PS), compared to usual care (UC), on the primary outcome of unplanned all-cause hospital readmissions using data from the Florida Health Information Exchange (HIE) Services Electronic Notification System (ENS).

Conditions Studied

Interventions

• OTHER Usual Care
• BEHAVIORAL Care Transitions Intervention
• BEHAVIORAL Care Transitions Intervention and Peer Support

Study Locations (1)