Incidence of and County Variation in Fall Injuries in US Residents Aged 65 Years or Older, 2016-2019.

This cross-sectional study examines national trends and geographic variation of fall injury rates among older US residents.

Association Between Financial Distress with Patient and Caregiver Outcomes in Home-Based Palliative Care: A Secondary Analysis of a Clinical Trial.

Background: Serious illness often causes financial hardship for patients and families. Home-based palliative care (HBPC) may partly address this.

Objective: Describe the prevalence and characteristics of patients and family caregivers with high financial distress at HBPC admission and examine the relationship between financial distress and patient and caregiver outcomes.

Assessing the concurrent validity of days alive and at home metric.

Background: Most patients living with serious illness value spending time at home. Emerging data suggest that days alive and at home (DAH) may be a useful metric, however more research is needed. We aimed to assess the concurrent validity of DAH with respect to clinically significant changes in patient- and caregiver-reported outcomes (PROs).

The Psychosocial Effects of Frailty on Women.

Certain psychosocial elements, such as depression, anxiety, stress, lack of social support, and loneliness, should be considered as part of frailty. Women are more likely to be frail toward the end of life, because they live longer and are less likely to develop diseases with abrupt ends. Women are also more prone to develop psychosocial elements associated with frailty because of their lifetime stressors, poverty, and loneliness at the end of life.

Recommendations for Welcoming Back Nursing Home Visitors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of a Delphi Panel.

Objectives: Nursing homes became epicenters of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020. Due to the substantial case fatality rates within congregate settings, federal agencies recommended restrictions to family visits. Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, these largely remain in place.

High SARS-CoV-2 Attack Rate Following Exposure at a Choir Practice - Skagit County, Washington, March 2020.

On March 17, 2020, a member of a Skagit County, Washington, choir informed Skagit County Public Health (SCPH) that several members of the 122-member choir had become ill. Three persons, two from Skagit County and one from another area, had test results positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Another 25 persons had compatible symptoms.

Protocol for a Noninferiority Comparative Effectiveness Trial of Home-Based Palliative Care (HomePal).

As health care systems strive to meet the growing needs of seriously ill patients with high symptom burden and functional limitations, they need evidence about how best to deliver home-based palliative care (HBPC). We compare a standard HBPC model that includes routine home visits by nurses and prescribing clinicians with a tech-supported model that aims to promote timely interprofessional team coordination using video consultation with the prescribing clinician while the nurse is in the patient's home. We hypothesize that tech-supported HBPC will be no worse compared with standard HBPC.

Rehabbed to Death: Breaking the Cycle.

Many older adults transfer from the hospital to a post-acute care (PAC) facility and back to the hospital in the final phase of life. This phenomenon, which we have dubbed "Rehabbing to death," is emblematic of how our healthcare system does not meet the needs of older adults and their families. Policy has driven practice in this area including seemingly benign habits such as calling PAC facilities "rehab.

Care Plan Standardization for Older Adults: Opportunities for Nursing Leadership.

Care plans guide and document achievement of short- and long-term goals. However, most care plans are discipline oriented, document medical problems, and lack person-centered information such as care preferences. The current authors' goal was to explore the status of comprehensive care plans and the future application of sharing data among health care providers and settings.

Innovative Models for High-Risk Patients Use Care Coordination and Palliative Supports to Reduce End-of-life Utilization and Spending.

Background And Objectives: Care coordination and palliative care supports are associated with reduced anxiety, fewer hospital admissions, and improved quality of life for patients and their families. Early palliative care can result in savings in the end-of-life period, but there is limited evidence that larger-scale models can improve both utilization and the cost of care. Three models that received Health Care Innovation Awards from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services aimed to improve quality of care and reduce cost through the use of innovative care coordination models.

Community-acquired and hospital-acquired medication harm among older inpatients and impact of a state-wide medication management intervention.

Background: We previously reported reduction in the rate of hospitalisations with medication harm among older adults with our 'Pharm2Pharm' intervention, a pharmacist-led care transition and care coordination model focused on best practices in medication management. The objectives of the current study are to determine the extent to which medication harm among older inpatients is 'community acquired' versus 'hospital acquired' and to assess the effectiveness of the Pharm2Pharm model with each type.

Methods: After a 3-year baseline, six non-federal general acute care hospitals with 50 or more beds in Hawaii implemented Pharm2Pharm sequentially.

Interest in online interprofessional elective mind-body skills (MBS) training.

Introduction: There is growing interest in mind-body skills (MBS) education and online interprofessional elective MBS training for health professionals. We conducted this study to understand a) the demand among different health professionals for an online MBS course; b) engagement with different MBS topics; and c) planned behavior changes.

Methods: We examined registrations from May 1 through August 31, 2014 for a new online MBS elective, analyzing the percentage of registrants who engaged with one or more of 12 modules by September 30, 2014.

The Effects of Multiple Chronic Conditions on Adult Patient Readmissions and Hospital Finances: A Management Case Study.

Medicare and other payers have launched initiatives to reduce hospital utilization, especially targeting readmissions within 30 days of discharge. Hospital managers have traditionally contended that hospitals would prosper better by ignoring the penalties for high readmission rates and keeping the beds more full. We aimed to test the financial effects of admissions and readmissions by persons with and without specified chronic conditions in one regional hospital.

Creating A Nationwide Nonpartisan Initiative for Family Caregivers in Political Party Platforms.

Policymakers have been slow to support family caregivers, and political agendas mostly fail to address the cost burdens, impact on employment and productivity, and other challenges in taking on long-term care tasks. This project set out to raise policymakers' awareness of family caregivers through proposals to Republican and Democratic party platforms during the 2016 political season. The Family Caregiver Platform Project (FCPP) reviewed the state party platform submission process for Democratic and Republican parties in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.