Quality improvement program has little impact on reducing hospitalizations

Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers (INTERACT), a quality improvement program aimed at reducing hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits among nursing home patients, yielded little results, according to a JAMA Internal Medicine study. However, the program helped improve the quality of care at participating nursing homes.

The study involved 85 nursing homes and more than 36,000 residents participating in INTERACT, which focuses on the use of educational tools and strategies to help residents improve their conditions. INTERACT involves physician communication, care pathways for avoiding hospitalization, and advance care planning. Researchers compared ED visit rates among residents prior to participation in the program to rates after the program was implemented.

Reductions in hospitalization rates were nonsignificant compared to rates of the control group. However, intervention nursing homes showed an overall reduction in potentially avoidable hospitalization rates.