DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW RISK SCREENING TOOL OF READMISSIONS
IN THE SPANISH HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Stream 11. Long-term Care Policies in Europe
Doñate-Martínez, A. 1
Zafra, E. 2
1 Polibienestar Research Institute – University of Valencia.
Edificio Institutos de Investigación c/ Serpis nº29, 2ª planta. 46022 Valencia (Spain)
Phone: +34 961624512
2Valencian Health Agency, Regional Ministry of Health, Generalitat Valenciana
(Spain)
Abstract
Due to the current population ageing and its increasing perspective in the future, it is necessary to develop and establish resources of health and social systems aimed toimprove the management of elderly patients and to strengthen the sustainability ofWelfare systems.This study proposes a useful mechanism to improve the continuity and efficiency of care provided to elders through the development of a new tool to detectelderly patients at risk of future and potentially preventable hospital readmissions. Inthis sense, the present study is based on data and results obtained in a previous researchcarried out in a sample of the elderly(+65) from the Valencian Community (Spain)through the collection of variables from the two instruments employed: Probability ofRepeated Admissions – Pra – and The Community Assessment Risk Screen – CARS.Several statistical analyses have been done (correlations and regression) to obtainvariables and factors that could be included in a new screening tool addressed toidentify patients at risk of future readmissions within the Spanish Healthcare System.The main results obtained show that the variables statistically and significantlyassociated with the predictive variable ‘future hospital admissions’ were: sex, self-assessmenthealth status, prescribed medications, hospital admissions in the previous 12months, hospital admissions or emergency department visits in the previous 6 monthsand the diagnosis of coronary disease.
Keywords
Readmissions – Elderly – Health and social care – Screening tools – Risk – Chronic Patients
INTRODUCTION:
The current study is framed within the Social Sustainability Theory developed by Polibienestar, which consists of a joint reorganization of the social services and the health system as a holistic model providing an answer to the necessities of people that require long-term care to increase their well-being and quality of life (Garcés, Carretero & Ródenas, 2012; Garcés & Ródenas, 2012).Population ageing in Spain and all around Europe has caused a notable increase on the demand of health and social services by elderly people, as this kind of patients presents, usually, chronic diseases and comorbiditiesthat require long-term care and/or repeated use of care services (Dobrzanska & Newell, 2006). One of the indicators that reflects this increased consumption and use of resources is the hospital admissions (Commission Communication, 2009; Landi et al., 2004). For example, in Spain, it is worth mentioning the notable increase of elderly people on hospital admissions in the last two decades. Thus, in 1990 2,5 out of every 10 discharges were concerned to elders (65 years and over), in comparison to 4 out of every 10 discharges in 2010 (INE, 2011).
The term readmission has been defined as a repeated hospitalization within 1 month (e.g. Ashton et al., 1997), 2 months (e.g. Wilkins & Beckett, 1992) or 12 months (e.g. Kelly et al., 1992) of discharge; and according to several data, about one third of them occur within a month of discharge, half of them within 90 days and 80% within a year (Corrigan & Kazandjian, 1991; Henderson et al., 1993).
The causes of readmissions may beinferred from differences in theirrates among various patient populations and according to demographic, social,and disease-related characteristics (Benbassat & Taragin, 2000).There is a wide literature focused in the research on indicators or characteristics strongly related to readmissions. Thus, rehospitalizations are associated with different kind of risk factors, as for example, demographic (e.g. Allaudeen et al., 2011; Kirby et al., 2010), social (e.g. Berkman et al., 1991; Landi et al., 2004), clinical (e.g. Dobrzanska & Newell, 2006; Hasan et al., 2010) or related to the use of previous use of health resources (e.g. Howell et al., 2009; Martín et al., 2011).The relevance of studying these indicatorsis based on the possibility to define them and, thus, the posterior identification of patients at high risk to design targeted interventions aimed, finally, to avoid repeated admissions.
In the Spanish Healthcare System, the number of hospital discharges since 1990 to 2010 have increased around 23,89% (Instituto de Información Sanitaria, 2012). To decrease this incidence it would be necessary to invest resources in improving health services, in linking health and social care and in a preventive approach of chronic diseases (Garcés & Ródenas, 2012).
In Spain is not any validated tool addressed specially to detect potential patients that can use repeatedly health and social services. So, the aim of this paper is to present the main variables that could compose a new tool to detect elderly patients at risk of future and potentially preventable hospital readmissions.
METHODOLOGY:
The target population of this study was patients 65 years or older attended at the Valencian Healthcare System in one of the followings Health Departments: Arnau de VilanovaHospital, Doctor Peset Hospital and Ribera Hospital. Exclusion criteria for participation were absence of patient data in databases, agedunder 65 and exitus.
The total sample recruited wasof 432patients.
The data employed for the analyses carried out are from a previous research in which it was collected the variables showed on Table 1 from the instruments Probability of Repeated Admissions – Pra – (Boult et al., 1993) and The Community Assessment Risk Screen – CARS – (Shelton et al., 2000).The data collection of the variables that compose the instruments employed was performed through several health information systems from the Valencian Healthcare System with respect to 2008: 1)Abucasis – primary care databases; 2) GAIA– with information about prescribed medications; and 3) at hospitals MDS (Minimum Data Set) that registers the patients’ discharges among other data: main and secondary diagnostics, clinical and/or surgical procedures, demographical variables (birthdates and gender), and hospital stay.Moreover, to fill out two items from the Pra questionnaire (global self-reported health and caregiver availability) it was necessary to contact by phone with every patient to obtain information related to 2008.Once the information was collected, we removed any kind of identifying information; preserving only the SIP number (Population Information System) as a reference number to access medical and admission histories of patients.Finally, we carried out a search of hospital admissions of each patient in 2009 through the health information systemMDS.
Table 1. Variables collected to predict hospital readmissionsGender
Female
Male / Hospital admissions or ED in past the six months
Yes
No
Diagnosis
Diabetes
Heart disease
Myocardial infarction
Stroke
COPD
Cancer / Family doctor visits in the past year
None
1 time
2-3 times
4-6 times
More than 6 times
Self-related health status
Very good
Good
Fair
Poor / Caregiver availability
Yes
No
Hospital admissions in the past year
None
1 time
2-3 times
More than 3 times / Prescript medicaments
5 or more
Less than 5
Source: Polibienestar Research Institute (2011).
Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 17software. Analyses consisted of Student’s t-test of difference between independent sample means or one-way ANOVA test, Pearson correlation coefficients, Pearson Chi-square testsand binary logistic regression.
RESULTS:
The variables assessed are summarized on Table 2. Moreover, the mean age of the sample was 74,76 years (± 6,54).
Table2. Summary of variablesNº patients (%)
(n=432)
Gender
Female
Male / 256 (59,26)
176 (40,74)
Diagnosis
Diabetes
Heart disease
Myocardial infarction
Stroke
COPD
Cancer / 115 (26,62)
78 (10,06)
4 (0,93)
7 (1,62)
4 (0,93)
65 (15,05)
Self-related health status *
Very good
Good
Fair
Poor / 41 (9,49)
155 (35,88)
138 (31,94)
98 (22,69)
Hospital admissions in the past year
None
1 time
2-3 times
More than 3 times / 369 (85,42)
50 (11,57)
13 (3,01)
0 (0)
Hospital admissions or ED in past the six months
Yes
No / 145 (33,56)
287 (66,44)
Family doctor visits in the past year
None
1 time
2-3 times
4-6 times
More than 6 times / 50 (10)
65 (13)
96 (19,2)
63 (12,6)
226 (45,2)
Caregiver availability *
Yes
No / 401 (92,82)
31 (7,18)
Prescript medicaments
5 or more
Less than 5 / 110 (25,46)
322 (74,54)
Source: Polibienestar Research Institute (2011).
The age from patients that were hospitalized in 2009 wasstatisticallysignificantly different (higher) than those did not suffered new readmissions (t498= 1,901; p=0,058).
Table 3 shows the results obtained through Chi-Square tests (for categorical variables) carried.
Table 3. Relationship between variables and future hospital readmissionsChi / p
Self-related health status * Readmissions in 2009 / 18,81 / 0,001
Caregiver availability * Readmissions in 2009 / 0,38 / 0,54
Family doctor visits in the past year * Readmissions in 2009 / 3,66 / 0,301
Prescript medicaments* Readmissions in 2009 / 8,78 / 0,003
Hospital admissions in the past year* Readmissions in 2009 / 12,03 / 0,002
Hospital admissions or ED in past the six months* Readmissions in 2009 / 21,84 / < 0,001
Diagnosis of diabetes * Readmissions in 2009 / 2,32 / 0,13
Diagnosis of heart disease * Readmissions in 2009 / 7,68 / 0,006
Diagnosis of myocardial infarction * Readmissions in 2009 / 0,71 / 0,40
Diagnosis of stroke * Readmissions in 2009 Readmissions in 2009 / 0,027 / 0,87
Diagnosis of COPC * Readmissions in 2009 / 0 / 0,98
Diagnosis of cáncer * Readmissions in 2009 / 1,57 / 0,21
Source: Polibienestar Research Institute (2012).
Table 4 shows the results obtained through binary logistic regression to study the variables associated with the occurrence of future hospital readmissions in the sample.
Table 4. Variables that influence on future hospital readmissionsVariables / Exp (B) / p
Hospital admissions or ED in past the six months / 0,969 / < 0.001
Good self-related health status / 3,478 / 0.002
Male gender / 1,688 / 0.072
5 or more prescript medicaments / 0,409 / 0.09
Source: Polibienestar Research Institute (2012).
DISCUSSION:
In this paper we are searching for specific factors related to socio-demographic, clinical and related to the use of health resources’ variables in patients, attempting to develop a new screening tool to detect elderly at risk of future hospital readmissions.
The main results obtained through different statistical analyses showed that the most influential factors in the predictive variable ‘future hospital admissions’ are the followings: self-related health status, prescript medicaments, hospital admissions in the past year, hospital admissions or ED in past the six months, diagnosis of heart diseaseand male gender. It is worth mentioning that the variables prescription of medicaments and age showed a trend to significance (p= 0.05-0.09) so they may be variables to take into account for further research and analyses. These results are similar to those obtained in other researches in the Spanish context, in which the variables associated with higher risk of readmission are based both on information from hospital and primary care databases (Martín et al., 2010).
So, a higher number of medicaments prescribed (Morrissey et al., 2003), the diagnosis of heart disease (Allaudeen et al., 2011), as well as a poor self-rated health (Novotny & Anderson, 2008) implies an increased risk of readmissions. With respect to variables related to health care, a previous history of hospital admissions and visits to ED are associated with the probability of being readmitted again (Hasan et al., 2010). Moreover, it has been observed a less risk of readmission in women (Frankl et al., 1991).
The relevance of this study consists in it provides guidelines to develop an own tool adapted to Spanish Healthcare System and validated in a Spanish sample of elderly patients. For this purpose, it is very useful the availability of data from patients in informatics databases, as health information systems from public administrations (Ramalle-Gomara & Gómez-Barragán, 2011). In spite of this approach may have some limitations related to the lack of codification and record of data, the advances in health information systems must be taken in consideration as they enable obtaining data from patients easily and the integration of several care levels – for example, primary and hospital care. So, since this approach, the data from this kind of databases, employed commonly by clinicians, becomes in useful information to develop and implement several pathways for the provision of specialized health and social care to patients (Garcés et al., 2011).
The application and study of screening tools, as Pra and CARS, validated in different Healthcare Systems than Spanish it is a relevant initiative. Researches like the present are necessary to develop a new instrument based on our own special features and validated in a Spanish sample, as for healthcare administrations the application of this kind of tools could be a good strategy to innovate healthcare policies and, consequently, to optimize the health and social resources (Garcés & Monsonís-Payá, 2012). The introduction of screening tools in health information systems could enable preventive programs and their link with other health and social resources. So, the screening tools jointly with methodologies as case-management both could be a relevant approach to favor the sustainability of European Healthcare Systems according to comparative studies (Garcés, Ródenas & Hammar, 2012).
Acknowledgements:
The research presented in this paper received financing from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, through the Spanish National R+D+I Plan (2008–2011) (Project reference: CSO2009-12086); from the Generalitat Valenciana, project Prometeo-OpDepTec (Project reference: PROMETEO/2010/065); and from Valencia Health Agency of Ministry of Health of Valencia 2010. A. Doñate-Martínez is supported by a predoctoral FPU fellowship of the Spanish Ministry of Education (AP2010-5354). Special thanks to the Johns Hopkins University: Wesley D. Blaskeslee, J.D., Executive Director from Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer and Dr. Boult for facilitating us the use of Pra tool through a Licensee Agreement signed on 8th September of 2010.
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