Care Transitions App for Patients With Multiple Chronic Conditions

Overview

The objective of this study is to widely implement and evaluate the Care Transitions App in a randomized controlled trial. The app the investigators designed for patients with multiple chronic conditions has four envisioned modules: 1) falls-reduction content, 2) a digital post-discharge transitional care plan (e.g., after hospital care plan, including education, medications, follow-up appointments, warning signs to watch for, nutrition, and other care plan activities), 3) a new module for patients with MCC (diabetes, congestive heart failure, and chronic kidney disease) including condition-specific post-discharge care plans with relevant symptom management activities, 4) a new post-discharge report module which summarizes key care transition findings and allows for patients to enter notes and questions for their providers and their own goals for recovery.

Care transitions are a vulnerable period for patients, leading to a 20% rate of readmissions, 11% rate of post-discharge adverse drug events, 15% rate of falls, and 29% rate of total post-discharge adverse events. Hospital discharge for patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCC) is a challenge for the hospital care teams, primary care providers (PCPs) and patients/caregivers who face the challenge of complex medication regimens, as well as patient-specific challenges in fall prevention strategies. Specific challenges include poor communication among inpatient providers, patients, and ambulatory providers, poor quality and timeliness of discharge documentation, suboptimal patient understanding of post-discharge plans of care and their ability to carry out these plans, medication discrepancies and non-adherence after discharge, failure to follow up the results of tests pending at time of discharge, failure to schedule necessary ambulatory appointments, tests, and procedures, and lack of timely follow-up with ambulatory providers. These risks are especially important for people living with multiple chronic conditions (PLWMCC), such as diabetes (DM), congestive heart failure (CHF), and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Each of these conditions requires a complex medication regimen which is often altered during the hospital admission. Often, the medications cannot be changed back to their original dose at the time of discharge because patients are eating less than usual, have become dehydrated, and their kidney function has been affected by nephrotoxic medications. Clearance of medications such as insulin is also altered and limited physical activity in the hospital places patients at increased risk for falls after discharge. All of these factors increase the risk of adverse events in the post-discharge period. An overarching goal of the intervention is to overcome common care transition challenges by simplifying the information patients and caregivers receive and empowering them to carry out their care plans. Previous research supports the use of mobile apps for improving health outcomes among those living with chronic illness. While many apps are available for chronic disease management, most of them focus on a single chronic illness such as diabetes or heart failure, or self-management area such as medication management, sleep, or pain and do not specifically target the period of transition from hospital to home. The intervention will fill an existing gap by developing, rigorously testing, and disseminating a comprehensive Care Transitions App for patients with MCC that will provide comprehensive care transition information for disease self-management, medication safety, and fall prevention in a format that is simple and actionable. The investigators will conduct a pragmatic randomized controlled trial in an academic medical center (Brigham and Women's Hospital) and primary care clinics to test the effectiveness of the Care Transitions App enrolling patients age 55 or older with MCC including Diabetes, congestive heart failure, and/or chronic kidney disease.