4 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
The primary objective is to develop a sustainable practice model emphasizing home visits by a collaborative physician and pharmacist team to decrease unplanned emergency department visits and hospital readmissions at 30 and 90 days for high-risk home bound patients. Secondary objectives include (1) tracking the number, type, and severity of adverse drug events (ADE) and potential adverse drug events (pADE) that occur following hospital discharge and (2) resolving any identified ADE and pADE within 7 days of hospital discharge. Adult patients will be scheduled for a home visit by the Healthy at Home Columbus program at the time of hospital discharge. The home visit will occur within 7 days of hospital discharge and will consist of a complete hospital and medication review by a physician or nurse practitioner and a pharmacist (including all lab tests, imaging studies, medication changes, and proposed plan of care at the time of discharge). The investigators hypothesize these home visits will reduce 30 and 90 days hospital readmission rates and ED visits. The number of emergency department visits and unplanned hospital readmissions will be tracked at 30 and 90 days following discharge from the hospitalization that led to study enrollment. A comparison cohort of patients discharged in the 12 months prior to study initiation will be used to compare the effectiveness of the home visit program. The number and type of adverse drug events (ADE) and potential adverse drug events (pADE) that occur during transitions of care will also be characterized. All ADE and pADE will be resolved during the initial home visit and will be classified based on severity. All ADE and pADE will be evaluated independently by two pharmacist reviewers; each reviewer will independently assign a severity rating to each ADE and pADE.
The VA Community Care Program has provided an important resource to improve access to surgical care for Veterans unable to have treatment at VA Medical Centers (VAMC). However, there is an increased risk of developing chronic opioid use when at-risk surgical patients receive opioids from non-VA providers. A multidisciplinary approach to perioperative pain management known as the Transitional Pain Service (TPS) has been shown to effectively reduce chronic opioid use among Veterans after surgery, but it is unknown whether it can be used to achieve the same outcomes for Veterans using Community Care for high-risk surgery. Through this project, the investigators will generate important data to establish whether a telehealth TPS approach can serve as a scalable and effective strategy to ensure safe opioid use among Veterans undergoing orthopedic surgery. The investigators will randomize Veterans using Community Care for orthopedic surgery to telehealth TPS versus standard of care. Finally, the investigators will interview patients using Community Care to better understand barriers and facilitators to telehealth TPS and Veteran satisfaction with the approach to pain management.
The overarching goal of this study is to develop a peer-based care coordination intervention for individuals with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) who were recently released from correctional settings to promote linkage to and retention in HCV care. The investigators will assess the existing barriers and facilitators of HCV treatment initiation, HCV treatment completion, and sustained virologic response among individuals recently released from a U.S. jail or prisons in a randomized control trial. This study will assess the feasibility and process measures of a peer-enhanced HCV care coordination intervention among recently incarcerated individuals.
Aim 1. To compare across three hospital sites the effects on health and cost outcomes observed by the following three interventions, each designed to enhance adaptation and improve outcomes of hospitalized cognitively impaired elders and their caregivers: 1. augmented standard care (ASC) - standard hospital and, if referred, home care plus early identification of CI during the patients' hospitalization by trained registered nurses (RNs) with immediate feedback to patients' primary nurses, attending physicians and discharge planners; 2. resource nurse care (RNC) - standard hospital and, if referred, home care plus early identification of CI during the patient's hospitalization by trained RNs and hospital care by RNs trained in the use of expert clinical guidelines developed to enhance the care management of hospitalized cognitively impaired elders and to facilitate their transition from hospital to home; or, 3. advanced practice nurse care (APNC) - standard hospital care plus transitional (hospital to home) care substituting for standard home care and provided by APNs with advanced training in the management of CI patients using an evidence-based protocol designed specifically for this patient group and their caregivers. \[H1\] We hypothesize that health and cost outcomes with APNC, a comprehensive intervention designed to meet the unique needs of cognitively impaired older adults hospitalized for an acute medical or surgical event and their caregivers will be associated, relative to health and cost outcomes with ASC and RNC, with improvement in patient, caregiver and cost outcomes. \[H2\] We hypothesize that improvements in patient, caregiver and cost outcomes observed for the RNC group will be greater than those observed for the ASC group. Aim 2. To compare within each site and over time, health and cost outcomes (identified in Aim 1) from patients treated with either ASC or RNC, both relatively lower intensity interventions, with the outcomes of patients at the same site observed after switching to APNC, a high intensity intervention. \[H3\] We hypothesize that compared to patients receiving the ASC or the RNC interventions, patients at the same site will have improved patient, caregiver and cost outcomes after the site switches to APNC. \[H4\] We hypothesize that patient, caregiver and cost outcomes achieved by the groups receiving APNC interventions at T1 and T2 will be similar.