Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes-Care Transitions: Enhancing Geriatric Care Transitions Through a Multidisciplinary Videoconference

Objectives: To examine whether a novel videoconference that connects an interdisciplinary hospital-based team with clinicians at postacute care sites improves interprofessional communication and reduces medication errors.

Design: Prospective cohort.

Setting: One tertiary care medical center and eight postacute care sites.

Participants: Hospital-based providers (hospitalists, geriatricians, pharmacists, social workers, medical trainees, and subspecialists) and postacute care clinicians.

Intervention: All patients discharged to eight postacute care sites were discussed in a weekly videoconference.

Measurement: Preliminary data including demographic characteristics of the patients discussed, postacute care provider satisfaction survey results, and data on medication errors are reported.

Results: Over 2 years, 907 patients were discussed; 84.6% were discussed with staff at subacute skilled nursing facilities and the remainder with clinicians at one long-term acute care facility. They had an average hospital length of stay of 6.8 days. Postacute care providers felt that the videoconference enhanced communication and provided much-needed access to information and hospital staff. Of the 106 pharmacy discrepancies identified, 16% involved an omission of a medication.

Conclusion: As increasing numbers of older adults are discharged to postacute care facilities, they face high-risk care transitions. Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes-Care Transitions (ECHO-CT) facilitates interdisciplinary communication between hospital and postacute care providers, who normally have minimal interaction. Preliminary data suggests that ECHO-CT may improve the transitions of care processes between these sites.