Many people living with dementia (PLWD) and their care partners may benefit from the assistance of a care coordinator, a member of the medical team who facilitates communication among all the people involved. However, care coordinators' time is limited, and there is uncertainty about which patients should be selected to receive their help. This pragmatic clinical trial embedded in an accountable care organization will determine the comparative effectiveness of two approaches for assigning care coordinators to PLWD.
This project will use a pragmatic clinical trial embedded in an accountable care organization (ACO) to determine the comparative effectiveness of two different approaches for selecting PLWD to receive support from care coordinators: (1) an approach that assigns PLWD to care coordinators based on care partners' self-reported difficulty with care coordination, or (2) usual care, which generally assigns PLWD to care coordinators after hospital discharge, regardless of perceived need. The investigators will include community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries ≥65 years old with dementia who have been attributed to the NewYork Quality Care ACO and who have fragmented care. The investigators will randomize the participants into two groups. This study is highly pragmatic, and the intervention is sustainable and scalable. Moreover, the proposed approach has the potential to improve care delivery and outcomes for PLWD.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
385
If proxies for patients in intervention group report on the survey that they experience difficulty coordinating care among the patients' providers, the patient will be selected for care management services. Those services will attempt to address the problems with care coordination that the proxy reported.
If a patient is discharged from a hospital, the patient will be selected for care management services.
New York Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Cornell Medicine
New York, New York, United States
Number of Emergency Department Visits or Hospital Admissions
Occurrence of an emergency department visit or hospital admission, as measured in Medicare claims
Time frame: Over 12 months (beginning 1 month after the start of care coordination)
Acceptability
The number of people who accepted care management in each group
Time frame: Up to 1 year
Appropriateness
The number of people with problems in scope for care coordinators, out of all people who received care management
Time frame: Up to 1 year
Fidelity
The number of people who actually received care coordination services, out of all of those who agreed to receive it
Time frame: Up to 1 year
Efficiency
The number of care coordinator encounters in each group. This measure allows more than one encounter per person.
Time frame: Up to 1 year
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