Using social risks to predict unplanned hospital readmission and emergency care among hospitalized Veterans.

Objectives: (1) To estimate the association of social risk factors with unplanned readmission and emergency care after a hospital stay. (2) To create a social risk scoring index.

Data Sources And Setting: We analyzed administrative data from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Corporate Data Warehouse.

Social Work Staffing and Use of Palliative Care Among Recently Hospitalized Veterans.

Importance: Palliative care improves quality of life for patients and families but may be underused.

Objective: To assess the association of an intervention to increase social work staffing in Veterans Health Administration primary care teams with use of palliative care among veterans with a recent hospitalization.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study used differences-in-differences analyses of the change in palliative care use associated with implementation of the Social Work Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) staffing program, conducted from October 1, 2016, to September 30, 2019.