Impact of Self-Care and Mobility on One or More Post-Acute Care Transitions

Risk factors for nursing home admission among older adults: Analysis of basic movements and activities of daily living

This retrospective study aimed to clarify the risk of older adults' nursing home placement in terms of basic movements and activities of daily living (ADLs) by analyzing data from a long-term care insurance certification survey in 2016‒2018 in City A. Of the 21,520 people certified as needing care, 16,865 could be followed up until 2018. Data on sex, age, household structure, and level of care required were obtained. Those who lived at home and at nursing homes were categorized as the "Unchanged group" and the "Changed group," respectively. Multivariate binomial logistic regression analysis was performed, with group type as the dependent variable and basic movement and ADL scores as the independent variables. For factor analysis according to care level, participants were classified into support need levels 1 and 2, care need levels 1 and 2, and care need levels 3, 4, and 5. For those categorized into support need levels 1 and 2, standing on one leg and transferring (basic movements) and urination and face cleaning (ADLs) were associated with nursing home placement. For those in care need levels 1 and 2, getting up and transferring (basic movements) and bathing, urination, face cleaning, and hair styling (ADL) were significantly associated with nursing home placement. For those in care need levels 3, 4, and 5, sitting and transferring (basic movements) and self-feeding and defecation (ADL) were significant. Occupational therapists must focus on older adults' declining ADLs and basic movements and relay the necessary information to patients, families, and other healthcare professionals to ensure appropriate and prompt care delivery.

Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care “6-Clicks” Basic Mobility Scores Predict Discharge Destination After Acute Care Hospitalization in Select Patient Groups: A Retrospective, Observational Study

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A standardized Basic Mobility score of 42.9 predicts home vs institution discharge.

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Orthopedic diagnoses may have a cutoff score of 41.5 to predict home discharge.

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Cutoff scores vary by diagnostic group and discharge destination.

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Cutoff scores vary by time of assessment relative to admission for some diagnoses.

Objectives

To establish cutoff scores for the Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care “6-Clicks” standardized Basic Mobility scores (sBMSs) for predicting discharge destination after acute care hospitalization for diagnostic subgroups within an acute care population and to evaluate the need for a second score to improve predictive ability.

Design

Retrospective, observational design.

Setting

Major medical center in metropolitan area.

Participants

Electronic medical records of 1696 adult patients (>18 years) admitted to acute care from January to October 2018. Records were stratified by orthopedic, cardiac, pulmonary, stroke, and other neurological diagnoses (N=1696). Interventions: None

Main Outcome Measure

Physical therapists scored patients’ sBMSs after referral for physical therapy and prior to discharge. Receiver operating characteristic curves delineated sBMS cutoff scores distinguishing various pairings of home, home with services, inpatient rehabilitation, or skilled nursing facility discharges. First and second sBMSs were compared with percentage change of the area under the curve and inferential statistics.

Results

Home vs institution cutoff score was 42.88 for combined sample, pulmonary and neurological cases. The cutoff score for orthopedic diagnoses score was 41.46. Cardiac and stroke model quality invalidated cutoff scores. Home without services vs skilled nursing discharges and home with services vs skilled nursing discharges were predicted with varying cutoff scores per diagnosis. sBMS cutoff scores collected closer to discharge were either the same or higher than first cutoffs, with varying effects on predictive ability.

Conclusions

sBMSs can help decide institution vs home discharge and finer distinctions among discharge settings for some diagnostic groups. A single sBMS may provide sufficient assistance with discharge destination decisions but timing of scoring and diagnostic group may influence cutoff score selection.

Understanding Variation in Postacute Care: Developing Rehabilitation Service Areas Through Geographic Mapping

OBJECTIVE

The aims of the study were to demonstrate a method for developing rehabilitation service areas and to compare service areas based on postacute care rehabilitation admissions to service areas based on acute care hospital admissions.

DESIGN

We conducted a secondary analysis of 2013-2014 Medicare records for older patients in Texas (N = 469,172). Our analysis included admission records for inpatient rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing facilities, long-term care hospitals, and home health agencies. We used Ward's algorithm to cluster patient ZIP Code Tabulation Areas based on which facilities patients were admitted to for rehabilitation. For comparison, we set the number of rehabilitation clusters to 22 to allow for comparison to the 22 hospital referral regions in Texas. Two methods were used to evaluate rehabilitation service areas: intraclass correlation coefficient and variance in the number of rehabilitation beds across areas.

RESULTS

Rehabilitation service areas had a higher intraclass correlation coefficient (0.081 vs. 0.076) and variance in beds (27.8 vs. 21.4). Our findings suggest that service areas based on rehabilitation admissions capture has more variation than those based on acute hospital admissions.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that the use of rehabilitation service areas would lead to more accurate assessments of rehabilitation geographic variations and their use in understanding rehabilitation outcomes.

Post-acute care use patterns among Hospital Service Areas by older adults in the United States: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Despite the success of stroke rehabilitation services, differences in service utilization exist. Some patients with stroke may travel across regions to receive necessary care prescribed by their physician. It is unknown how availability and combinations of post-acute care facilities in local healthcare markets influence use patterns. We present the distribution of skilled nursing, inpatient rehabilitation, and long-term care hospital services across Hospital Service Areas among a national stroke cohort, and we describe drivers of post-acute care service use.

METHODS

We extracted data from 2013 to 2014 of a national stroke cohort using Medicare beneficiaries (174,498 total records across 3232 Hospital Service Areas). Patients' ZIP code of residence was linked to the facility ZIP code where care was received. If the patient did not live in the Hospital Service Area where they received care, they were considered a "traveler". We performed multivariable logistic regression to regress traveling status on the care combinations available where the patient lived.

RESULTS

Although 73.4% of all Hospital Service Areas were skilled nursing-only, only 23.5% of all patients received care in skilled nursing-only Hospital Service Areas; 40.8% of all patients received care in Hospital Service Areas with only inpatient rehabilitation and skilled nursing, which represented only 18.2% of all Hospital Service Areas. Thirty-five percent of patients traveled to a different Hospital Service Area from where they lived. Regarding "travelers," for those living in a skilled nursing-only Hospital Service Area, 49.9% traveled for care to Hospital Service Areas with only inpatient rehabilitation and skilled nursing. Patients living in skilled nursing-only Hospital Service Areas had more than five times higher odds of traveling compared to those living in Hospital Service Areas with all three facilities.

CONCLUSIONS

Geographically, the vast majority of Hospital Service Areas in the United States that provided rehabilitation services for stroke survivors were skilled nursing-only. However, only about one-third lived in skilled nursing-only Hospital Service Areas; over 35% traveled to receive care. Geographic variation exists in post-acute care; this study provides a foundation to better quantify its drivers. This study presents previously undescribed drivers of variation in post-acute care service utilization among Medicare beneficiaries-the "traveler effect".