Continuity of care on admission to hospital: an audit of Airedale NHS Trust's transfer policy

Continuity of outpatient and inpatient care by primary care physicians for hospitalized older adults

CONTEXT

Little is known about the extent of continuity of care across the transition from outpatient care to hospitalization.

OBJECTIVES

To describe continuity of care in older hospitalized patients, change in continuity over time, and factors associated with discontinuity.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

A retrospective cohort study of 3,020,770 hospital admissions between 1996 and 2006 using enrollment and claims data for a 5% national sample of Medicare beneficiaries older than 66 years. Data files were constructed to include the patients' demographic and enrollment information (denominator file) and claims for hospital stays (MEDPAR file) and physician services (carrier claims file). Characteristics of the hospitals were included in annual provider of services files. Being seen by a physician was defined as when a physician had submitted a bill for evaluation and management services for that patient.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Percentage of patients who during hospitalization were seen by any outpatient physician they had visited in the year before hospitalization (continuity with any outpatient physician) or by their primary care physician (PCP) (continuity with a PCP).

RESULTS

In 1996, 50.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 50.3%-50.7%) of hospitalized patients were seen by at least 1 physician that they had visited in an outpatient setting in the prior year, and 44.3% (95% CI, 44.1%-44.6%) of patients with an identifiable PCP were seen by that physician while hospitalized. These percentages decreased to 39.8% (95% CI, 39.6%-40.0%) and 31.9% (95% CI, 31.6%-32.1%), respectively, in 2006. Greater absolute decreases in continuity with any outpatient physician between 1996 and 2006 occurred in patients admitted on weekends (13.9%; 95% CI, 12.9%-14.7%) and those living in large metropolitan areas (11.7%; 95% CI, 11.1%-12.3%) and in New England (16.2%; 95% CI, 14.4%-18.0%). In multivariable multilevel models, increasing involvement of hospitalists was associated with approximately one-third of the decrease in continuity of care between 1996 and 2006.

CONCLUSION

Between 1996 and 2006, physician continuity from outpatient to inpatient settings decreased in the Medicare population.

Breaks in continuity of care and the rural senior transferred for medical care under regionalisation

Continuity of care, defined as the patient experiencing coherent care over time and place, is challenged when a rural senior with multiple medical problems is transferred to a regional hospital for acute care. From an illustrative case of an older patient with pneumonia and atrial fibrillation, we catalogue potential breaks in continuity of care. Optimal continuity of care is characterised not only by regular contact with the providers who establish collaboration with patients and their caregivers, but also by communication, co-ordination, contingency, convenience, and consistency. Because it is not possible to have the same providers continuously available (relational continuity), for continuity of care, there is a need for integrative system approaches, such as: (1) policy and standards, disease management programs, integrated clinical pathways (management continuity), (2) electronic health information systems and telecommunications technology (communication continuity). The evaluation of these approaches requires measures that account for the multi-faceted nature of continuity of care.