141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

291821
Impact of home-based primary care on healthcare utilization: A prospective study of the homebound elderly

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Anastasia Sofianou, MPH , Division of General Internal Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
Keosha T. Bond, MPH, CHES , Division of General Internal Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
Joseph S. Ross, MD, MHS , Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, CT
David Russell, Ph.D , Center for Home Care Policy and Research, Visiting Nurse Service of New York, New York, NY
Ania Wajnberg, MD , Division of General Internal Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
Alex Federman, MD, MPH , Division of General Internal Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
The aging population in the U.S. calls for increased attention to the healthcare needs of seniors. Many medically complex community-dwelling seniors are homebound due to functional impairment,which limits their access to regular primary care. We conducted a prospective observational cohort study to examine the impact of home-based primary care on hospitalization rates for seniors who were newly enrolled in the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors (MSVD) program in comparison to adults receiving long-term care through the Visiting Nurse Services of New York (VNS), recruiting 180 patients. Our main outcome measure was use of inpatient services during the one year period after service enrollment. Data on hospital admissions, deaths, and program discharges were recorded using Medicare surveys and chart reviews. The incidence of hospital admissions for MSVD patients was compared with VNS using negative binomial regression and propensity score analysis to adjust for differences between groups. Forty-two percent of participants were ≥85 years of age, 81% were female, 29% Black, 39% Hispanic, 71% earned ≤$1350 a month, and 71% had ≥3 functional limitations. MSVD patients were older (p<0.0001), more disabled (p<0.0001), and had higher incomes (p=0.03) than VNS patients. Propensity scores successfully balanced groups. Propensity score adjusted results showed a 26% decrease in hospital admissions per day observed for patients in the MSVD as compared with the VNS group, however this difference was not statistically significant (IRR 0.74 (0.38-1.41), p=0.36). Further research with larger cohorts is needed to better understand the impact of home-based care on hospitalizations for this population.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Clinical medicine applied in public health
Provision of health care to the public

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the healthcare needs of home bound elderly patients with multiple functional impairments. Compare the differences in health outcomes for home bound elderly patients who receive primary care services from a physician and nursing care program.

Keywords: Primary Care, Frail Elderly

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was the data analyst for this research project.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4274.0: Primary care poster session