Achieving Patient-Centered Care and Optimized Health In Care Transitions by Evaluating the Value of Evidence (ACHIEVE)

Funded by the Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute (PCORI), nationally recognized leaders in health care and research methods are partnering with patients and caregivers to evaluate the effectiveness of current efforts at improving care transitions and develop recommendations on best practices for patient-centered care transitions and guidance for spreading them across the U.S.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Care Transitions
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Patient Communication and Care Management; Behavioral: Home-Based Trust, Plain Language, and Coordination; Behavioral: Hospital-Based Trust, Plain Language, and Coordination; Behavioral: Patient/Caregiver Assessment and Provider Information Exchange; Behavioral: Assessment and Teach Back; Other: Standard of Care (Reference)

Detailed Description

Patients in the U.S. suffer harm too often as they move between sites of health care, and their caregivers experience significant burden. Unfortunately, the usual approach to health care does not support continuity and coordination during such "care transitions" between hospitals, clinics, home or nursing homes. Poorly managed patient care transitions can lead to worsening symptoms, adverse effects from medications, unaddressed test results, failed follow-up testing, and excess rehospitalizations and ER visits.

Specific Aims:

1. Identify the transitional care outcomes and components that matter most to patients and caregivers.
2. Determine which evidence-based transitional care components (TCCs) or clusters most effectively yield patient and caregiver desired outcomes overall and among diverse patient and caregiver populations in different types of care settings and communities.
3. Identify barriers and facilitators to the implementation of specific TCCs or clusters of TCCs for different types of care settings and communities.
4. Develop recommendations for dissemination and implementation of the findings on the best evidence regarding how to achieve optimal TC services and outcomes for patients, caregivers and providers.

Study Design:

Capitalizing on the opportunity for a natural experiment observational study, the research team will conduct qualitative and quantitative studies. This 52-month study is divided into two distinct phases. During the first phase, Project ACHIEVE will use focus groups, with patients, caregivers, providers, and site visits to identify the transitional care outcomes and service components that matter most to patients. In this first phase, based on this information and an extensive evidence-based review of the research literature, the ACHIEVE team will develop surveys to be administrated in Phase II. The project team will conduct mail and phone surveys of patients and caregivers recruited from approximately 45 hospitals across the U.S. to assess what transitional care services patients and caregivers experience and how they are associated with outcomes. Additionally, the project team will conduct healthcare provider surveys and site visits to assess the facilitators and barriers to implementing transitional care strategies, organizational contexts (leadership and physician engagement, change culture, etc.), and community collaboration.

Outcomes and Impact:

Through rigorous study and evaluation, Project ACHIEVE will:

1. Identify best practices in care transitions that matter most to patients and their caregivers, and reduce excess emergency department and hospital utilization.
2. Develop a toolkit to guide informed decisions and spread these best practices across the U.S.
3. Develop Care Transitions Surveys that can standardize evaluation of patients' and caregivers' experience with care transitions.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 7939

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Kentucky
    • Lexington, Kentucky, United States, 40536
      • UK HealthCare

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Project ACHIEVE will focus on Medicare fee-for-services beneficiaries and study diverse high risk patient populations, including those with: 1) multiple chronic conditions; 2) mental health issues; 3) rural area domicile; 4) limited English proficiency or low health literacy; 5) low socioeconomic status; 6) Medicare and Medicaid dual eligible; 7) disabled and younger than 65.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• diverse high risk patient populations, including those with:

  1. multiple chronic conditions
  2. mental health issues
  3. rural area domicile
  4. limited English proficiency or low health literacy
  5. low socioeconomic status
  6. Medicare and Medicaid dual eligible
  7. disabled and younger than 65.

Exclusion Criteria:

• children
• non-Medicare patients
• Under police custody
• Under suicide watch
• In-hospital death
• Transferred (not discharged) to another acute care hospital
• Discharged against medical advice
• Admission for primary diagnosis of psychiatric conditions
• Admission for rehabilitation
• Admission for medical treatment of cancer

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Cohort
• Time Perspectives: Prospective

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Intervention / Treatment

Diverse, high-risk patient populations

Behavioral: Patient Communication and Care Management; Received the following Transitional Care strategies: Helpful Health Care Contact OR Symptom Management; Post-discharge Care Consultation; Patient Goal/Preference Assessment; Plain Language Communication in Hospital; Plain Language Communication at Home; Transition Summary for Patients and Family Caregivers; Behavioral: Home-Based Trust, Plain Language, and Coordination; Received the following Transitional Care Strategies: Transition Team; Home visits; Plain Language Communication at Home; Promote Trust at Home; Referral to Community Services; Follow-up Appointment; Behavioral: Hospital-Based Trust, Plain Language, and Coordination; Received the following Transitional Care Strategies: Post-discharge care consultation; Identify High-Risk Patients and Intervene; Medication Reconciliation; Plain Language Communication in Hospital; Promote Trust in the Hospital; Transition Summary for Patients and Family Caregivers; Behavioral: Patient/Caregiver Assessment and Provider Information Exchange; Received the following Transitional Care Strategies: Patient Goal/Preference Assessment; Identify High-Risk Patients and Intervene; Timely Exchange of Critical Patient Information among Providers; Patient/Family Caregiver Transitional Care Needs Assessment; Behavioral: Assessment and Teach Back; Received the following Transitional Care Strategies: Post-discharge care consultation; Language Assessment; Teach Back for Information and Skills; Other: Standard of Care (Reference); No specific Transitional Care Strategy

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Hospital Readmission	Readmission to the hospital within 30 days of discharge.	30 days post hospital discharge
Emergency Department (ED) Visit	Visit to the ED within 30 days of hospital discharge.	30 days post hospital discharge

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Mark Williams
• Collaborators: University of Pennsylvania; University of Illinois at Chicago; Boston Medical Center; Kaiser Permanente; Westat; Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport; Telligen, Inc.; Hospital Research & Education Trust, American Hospital Association; Joint Commission Resources; America's Essential Hospitals; United Hospital Fund; Caregiver Action Network; National Association of Area Agencies on Aging
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Mark V Williams, MD, University of Kentucky

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Li J, Brock J, Jack B, Mittman B, Naylor M, Sorra J, Mays G, Williams MV; Project ACHIEVE Team. Project ACHIEVE - using implementation research to guide the evaluation of transitional care effectiveness. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016 Feb 19;16:70. doi: 10.1186/s12913-016-1312-y. Erratum In: BMC Health Serv Res. 2016;16(1):326.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 1, 2015
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 30, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): June 30, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 29, 2015
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 2, 2015
• First Posted (Estimate): February 3, 2015

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 26, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 4, 2019
• Last Verified: November 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 3048112229

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No