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Transforming Care: Using Technology to Find Blind Spots in the Care of the Elderly

Transforming Care: Reporting on Health System Improvement 0ee26061-dcfa-4e78-a803-e2d6ed94e616

In Focus: Using Technology to Find Blind Spots in the Care of the Elderly

New digital health technologies — including remote sensors, communication platforms, and assistive devices — are shedding light on how frail elders are faring outside of hospitals and medical offices. Such tools allow health care providers to create a more realistic and immediate picture of the health and well-being of older adults, identify rising risks and adverse events, and discern patterns that can be used to design solutions for particular groups.

Starting next year, a team led by Jeffrey Kaye, M.D., a professor of neurology and biomedical engineering at Oregon Health and Science University, will begin tracking the activities of 360 older adults using a network of sensors they’ve agreed to place in their homes. With research partners in other parts of the country, his team will be monitoring the vital signs, medication use, mobility, activities, sleep patterns, and phone and computer use of a cross-section of Americans, including African Americans in Chicago, Latinos in Miami, public housing residents in Portland, Ore., and veterans in rural communities. One of his goals in tracking older adults who are still relatively healthy is to identify the early signs of physical and cognitive decline — generating insights that may guide medical care and enable patients to retain their independence.

Kaye began developing the platform, known as Life Lab, more than 10 years ago and with a team of researchers, statisticians, and software developers has been analyzing data from over 700 volunteers. Early findings have been surprising. For one, patients' own reports — which doctors rely on to help determine diagnoses and treatment plans — aren’t entirely reliable.1 Asked to explain what they did in the last two hours, a quarter were wrong and another third were only partially right. "They knew we had the data on what they were doing, and they weren’t cognitively impaired," Kaye says. "They just couldn’t remember accurately what they’d done." Another finding was that patterns in movement and behavior seemed to track cognitive impairment. For example, variable walking speed, less time spent away from home, and less time spent on computers “individually and together create a very strong signal that the person is in the early stages of cognitive decline," he says.

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This issue of Transforming Care looks at the potential for a wide variety of emerging technologies to not just fill in knowledge gaps but help older Americans avoid falls, manage chronic disease, and reduce social isolation, among other goals. Many attempt to get beyond controlled medical environments and gather more points of data, filling in gaps that have created blind spots, particularly for high-need patients. "In medicine we've been very focused on what's happening in the hospital and physician’s offices—creating action plans based on that—but what happens there is not necessarily reflective of what happens to the patient at home and in daily life," says Adam Darkins, M.D., who helped develop and scale telehealth at the Veterans Health Administration before joining the medical device and technology company Medtronic. Indeed, Life Lab found that people tend to walk more slowly and cautiously at home than they do when demonstrating their gait in a doctor’s office.

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Technology Targets Leading Risks Among Older Adults

Preventing Falls and Other Adverse Events

The Miami, Fla.–based startup Care Heroes is one of a handful of companies seeking to leverage the insights of caregivers—either paid or unpaid—to help identify hazards in the home and frail elders who may be at risk.2  “We can now pull caregivers in as a core part of the care team—to recognize them and try to help them achieve what we all want to achieve, which is keeping frail elders out of the hospital or nursing home,” says Chiara Bell, Care Heroes founder and CEO. “We want to give them a voice.”

The tool creates a communication link between caregivers and health plan care managers. Caregivers use a phone-based app to report what they see and do, earning points for completing tasks and identifying hazards, such as a need for grab bars in a bathroom. They can then use the points to claim small prizes (e.g., $5 Target gift cards). Care managers receive caregiver reports immediately and can use them to address risks. The company will be aggregating the data to identify best practices for keeping members safe and help its clients distinguish and incentivize high-performing home care vendors.

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Source: Care Heroes

A key goal of monitoring approaches like Care Heroes and Life Lab is to identify when seniors begin to have problems with balance and other issues that put them at risk of falling, which is a leading cause of injury and injury-related deaths among older adults. Treating nonfatal falls alone cost Medicare nearly as much as treating all cancers last year.3 Some cities are treating falls as a public health problem: Baltimore City Department of Health, for instance, is analyzing data from the city’s health information exchange to identify the frequency and patterns of falls with a goal of offering support to those most at risk.

Other tools focus on the hospital environment.4  The technology and services company Philips is seeking to prevent falls by reducing the confusion and delirium that can be brought on by anesthesia or other aspects of hospitalization. It has developed four prototype rooms, now being piloted in a hospital in Germany, where most medical equipment is hidden from view. Clouds and other calming visualizations are projected onto a luminous ceiling, on which elders can use an iPad to play interactive games that help orient them to their environment. “We’re trying to turn the adult hospital world into the environment of the NICU, where we’re very sensitive to the needs of developing infants,” says Joseph Frassica, M.D., chief medical officer and chief innovation officer for Philips Healthcare.

Staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are also working to alleviate the stress and confusion brought on by intensive hospital care. They’ve developed a tablet-based patient portal, MyICU, that offers educational and communication tools to patients’ families, including a journal to record daily events—visitors, tests, and progress made—to share with their loved ones later. “Patients can have post-traumatic stress disorder after an ICU stay,” says Barbara Sarnoff Lee, senior director of social work and patient/family engagement. “It has to do with their critical condition but also the drugs they’ve taken: they’re missing pieces of memory.” Journals can “help people put the pieces together,” she says, and have been shown to improve their adjustment after discharge.5

Promoting Evidence-Based Medicine, Treatment Adherence, and Chronic Disease Management

Other technologies seek to shape medical practice, promote treatment adherence and help older adults and their caregivers manage chronic conditions. More than a third of Medicare beneficiaries age 65 or older live with a chronic condition, and 15 percent live with six or more.6

A new startup, HealthReveal, collates and analyzes data from medical claims, electronic health records, pharmacy records, and lab results to find specific instances where a patient’s care is at variance with evidence-based literature—which research suggests occurs fairly often.7  It’s an approach that takes into account the difficulty of keeping abreast of medical literature and evolving clinical guidelines, and in particular of treating older adults who may have multiple comorbidities. The system is being implemented by self- insured employers and health systems to support physicians caring for patients with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or kidney disease: three conditions that are “like the axis of evil” in that any one of them can prompt or exacerbate the other, says Lonny Reisman, M.D., the company’s founder.

HealthReveal plans to combine its decision support software with remote monitoring tools, so it can help track elders’ weight, blood pressure, and other biometric signals to alert physicians when they may need to intervene. It may also market its product to consumers, who are often unaware of widely varying quality of care.

Other companies have focused on remote monitoring tools that can track elders’ behavior—going beyond “smart” pillboxes and other wireless devices that have had an impact on disease management to an “internet of things” approach that embeds sensors in consumer products, such as refrigerators.8  One example is Samsung’s smart refrigerator, which can track how much food is inside and how often it’s opened—indicators of how well elders are taking care of themselves. Such innovations are more common in Japan and South Korea because they have large elderly populations and insufficient social supports, says David Bates, M.D., chief innovation officer and senior vice president at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “It’s more of a burning platform in Asia.”

Dementia and Cognitive Declines: Supporting Patients and Caregivers

New technologies may provide the greatest benefit to older adults with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia—conditions that place considerable strain on their caregivers. An estimated 14 percent of Americans age 71 or older have Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia, and 15 million Americans are providing them with unpaid care.9

Diane Mahoney, a geriatric nurse practitioner and researcher at Massachusetts General’s Institute of Health Professions, heard from caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients that they often struggled when helping their loved ones get dressed, particularly in the middle stage of the disease when elders wanted to dress themselves but were losing their ability to follow sequences. Working with occupational therapists and programmers, Mahoney developed a “smart dresser” system using an iPad, embedded sensors in dresser drawers, and wearable sensors that prompt elders through the steps of dressing and respond to their cues. “We can sense in real time where the person is at and what they are doing,” says Mahoney. “If they get stuck, the system gives a cue through the iPad to take out your shirt. It will show a picture and a voice will say, ‘That is the right shirt. Now put it on your right arm.’” The tool is able to assess each user and tailor response to their particular dressing patterns and cognitive issues. “This is really the breakthrough,” she says. “Usually programs are standardized, and the user must learn and adapt to the technology. We intentionally reversed this process to accommodate persons with dementia.”

The smart dresser is part of a growing number of assistive technologies that seek to support Alzheimer’s patients through daily activities, such as washing and exercising, or use interactive programs to stimulate their memories and encourage them to stay connected to others.10

Ameliorating Social Isolation

Finally, several researchers are testing whether technology can ameliorate another major risk for elders: social isolation, which some studies suggest can be as hazardous to health as smoking, obesity, or lack of exercise.11  The University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine’s Sara Czaja, an expert on aging and human factors design, has worked with a team at the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement to develop a computer software and training system for older adults. It provides a bundle of easily accessible features, including email, web browsing, and a curated set of community resources (e.g., Meals on Wheels, cultural events) as well as social networking opportunities. A pilot test among older adults who lived alone, had limited social interaction, and had minimal computing experience found that it reduced loneliness and increased their quality of life.12  “We had 98-year-olds sending email,” Czaja said.

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Source: Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement

Challenges

Need for User-Centered Design

To encourage adoption of new technologies by older adults (as well as their caregivers and clinicians), developers must do a better job in creating user-friendly products (see sidebar on user-centered design). A recent Commonwealth Fund–supported study found that users struggled with even the basic functions of high-ranked apps designed to manage chronic conditions.13  “They were frustrated with the design features and how to navigate the apps,” says Bates, who took part in the study. “At the same time, they were really interested in technology; they just felt what we were showing them—which was really best in class—didn’t meet their needs.”

To start, developers must ensure their user interfaces are accessible to those who may have vision or agility problems by creating large buttons, fonts, and clear navigation. Some developers are bypassing systems that require reading and typing in favor of voice-activated software that functions on traditional platforms, such as televisions.

There’s also lack of understanding of the real pain points because the industry is populated by young people, experts say. Too many technologies are driven by their creator’s personal experience, not market research. “I ask how many customers have you met with, and they say my grandma,” says Lisa Suennen, managing partner of the health care consulting firm Venture Valkyrie. To help developers understand the needs of those who could benefit most from digital health tools, the Commonwealth Fund and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation commissioned development of a prototype digital health advisor; its designers began by speaking with frail elders and their caregivers, among others.

To build understanding of seniors’ needs, the AARP has sought to engage the tech industry through several channels, including an annual demo day at which thousands of its members vote on pitches from tech developers. For four of the past five years, the consumers’ choice winner differed from that chosen by a panel of the venture capitalists. (Care Heroes was a consumers’ choice winner in 2014.) “We believe the innovation is going to come from start-ups,” says Jody Holtzman, senior vice president of market innovation at AARP.

Academic medical centers and other health systems have also set up innovation centers so that clinicians can work hand in hand with designers and developers in identifying needs and developing tools to meet them.14 Particularly for solutions that seek to promote behavior change to improve health, technologies must “be coupled with doctors’ knowledge about patients and what motivates them,” says Frassica. “If you build technology that supports intimate knowledge of patients, then you will win; without it, you will lose every time.”

User-Centered Design

Gretchen Addi, associate partner at IDEO, the design consultancy credited with reimagining the shopping cart, partners with health care providers and pharmaceutical companies as well as patients and their caregivers to develop products and services that better meet the needs older Americans. She encourages companies interested in reaching them to look beyond functionality to find solutions that bring joy and delight.

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Gretchen Addi and Barbara Beskind, an IDEO fellow who draws on her background in occupational therapy to help design products for older adults. Photo credit: Nicolas Zurcher.

The starting point for us is always the human experience. We ask what do people need? What is missing for them? And where are they disconnected? We also look at extremes to find inspiration. In the aging space, this means talking to people who are incredibly isolated and people who have figured out how to be incredibly engaged. Often what we find is that they’ve co-opted a system or a service to make it work for them, and that’s where we see opportunities.

A lot of products and services that are out there for older adults send the message that aesthetics don’t matter, but if you want to engage people, they have to be desirable. That’s especially true in health care because people do not want to be reminded that they are sick or getting older. I’m as guilty of that as the next person. I’m 65, and if someone says this is a great product for older adults, I’m going to step away from it.

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IDEO works to make assistive devices like walkers more desirable.

To find good ideas, we spend a lot of time talking to people and shadowing them to understand at a very core level what they are challenged by and how we can make their experience better by bringing design and joy to it. We don’t talk about designing for aging—we talk about designing for life stage and for needs that specific individuals have. Often it comes down to managing transitions. Take treatment adherence. As we see it, people who are struggling with a disease are moving through stages and need help with navigating them. It’s not simply having a better device for managing your medication. They need help adapting to new routines and help understanding that some of the emotional challenges they are experiencing are normal.

Technology can help by creating supports—either through communities of patients or with products and services that help reinforce new rituals and behaviors. These can benefit everyone because you don’t have to be old and frail to have this challenge. Think about using a bathroom mirror for instance. We’re in front of one multiple times a day so it’s already part of our routine. We have the technology to send messages through mirrors and relay those messages on things that are fun to carry with you. It doesn’t have to be a medical support device—it can be something that has a bit of personality to it. A cane is a good example. Most people don’t want to use them, but if they are decorated and personalized, they become a conversation piece and allow people to connect with others. Instead of being stigmatizing, it unites them with others.

Many companies like IDEO are working to make technologies fit into existing routines.

 

There are physical transitions as well, which we don’t manage well in health care. When thinking about moving someone from his or her home to the health care environment and back, we encourage people to think in terms of a journey—not just for patients but for providers and caregivers as well. You must look at the specific needs and outcomes at each stage of the way and get into the mindset of those people and see where the disconnects are.

We can’t do this work without partnering closely with the people having the direct experience. One of our employees, Barbara Beskind, is a great example. She’s in her 90s and suffers from macular degeneration, so she’s trying to navigate the world while losing her sight. That spurred a lot of wonderful ideas, including eyeglasses that rely on facial or voice recognition to identify the person coming toward her. Based on her experience living in a retirement community, she’s also suggested using air bag technology in clothing to protect people from falls. By asking Barbara and others what their days are like, we gain insight about what’s needed and where the big opportunities lie.

 

Uncertain Funding Streams

Another major impediment to adoption of new technologies is figuring out who will pay for them. It’s not surprising that investors favor products that can be marketed directly to consumers because they’re wary of passing the evidentiary and regulatory hurdles required to secure reimbursement from Medicare or other insurers (see expert roundtable for discussion of the challenges). Foundations like the Alzheimer’s Association have stepped in to provide grants to fund research and development of products in places where they see market gaps, such as assistive technologies like Mahoney’s smart dresser. And cities like San Francisco have begun to address access barriers by providing low-income older adults with training, equipment, and subsidies to access the Internet, an essential component of many digital health technologies. “Internet access should be considered a health utility,” says Kathleen Kelly, executive director of the Family/Caregiver Alliance.

Health systems that are taking on financial risk for patient outcomes are also showing some interest, starting with tools that have been shown to work in managing expensive conditions like heart failure. And some of the larger health systems are using their investment funds to sponsor their innovation centers, accelerators, or other tech partnerships.

Need to Make Data Actionable

Many new technologies create new sources of data from wearable sensors and remote monitoring tools among other devices, and the key question is how to make it digestible and actionable to care providers. Platforms like IBM’s Watson and HealthReveal are starting to come to market to combine data from different sources and apply machine learning to make it manageable and useable.

And evidence is emerging that—when provided at the most opportune time and place—new sources of information gathered via technology can change care delivery. In a recent study, primary care clinicians who received a report summarizing whether their patients took their blood pressure medication, detected via an electronic pillbox that transmitted the time and date when it was opened, were more likely to intensify treatment among patients with uncontrolled hypertension.15

Realizing Value

Finally, it will be important to focus on technologies that stand to provide real value—and not to be distracted by the latest and greatest. “There’s a lot of spin and buzz about technology that’s exciting,” Kaye says. “And certainly, I’m as susceptible as anyone to the siren call of cool gadgets. But a lot of what is out there is still aspirational.”

Mahoney agrees. “People always want the next best thing, but there’s great opportunity to make common things work more reliably and cheaper. We still have a ways to improve while looking for the next best thing.”


Descriptions of products and services in Transforming Care are based on publicly available information and self-reported data provided by the institution(s) featured. Their inclusion should not be construed as an endorsement by The Commonwealth Fund.
Notes

1 K. V. Wild, N. Mattek, D. Austin et al., “‘Are You Sure?’” Lapses in Self-Reported Activities Among Healthy Older Adults Reporting Online,” Journal of Applied Gerontology, June 2016 35(6):627–41.

2 Other companies seeking to leverage the insights of caregivers include Care at Hand and Atlas of Caregiving.

3 M. Maciag, “How Governments Are Tackling a Deadly Threat to Seniors,” Governing, Nov. 21, 2016.

4 M. Ferris, “Protecting Hospitalized Elders from Falling,” Topics in Advanced Practice Nursing eJournal, 2008 8(4).

5 See C. Jones, M. Capuzzo, H. Flaatten et al., “ICU Diaries May Reduce Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder,” Intensive Care Medicine, 2006 32 (Suppl 1):S144 and http://icu-diary.org/diary/Literature.html.

6 See https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Chronic-Conditions/MCC_Main.html.

7 See for example D. M. Levine, J. A .Linder, and B. E. Landon, “The Quality of Outpatient Care Delivered to Adults in the United States, 2002 to 2013,” JAMA Internal Medicine, Dec. 2016 176(12):1778–90 and J. C. Hsu, T. M. Maddox, K. Kennedy et al., “Aspirin Instead of Oral Anticoagulant Prescription in Atrial Fibrillation Patients at Risk for Stroke,” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, June 2016 67:2913–23.

8 For example, one study found that use of electronic pillboxes, coupled with the opportunity to be entered into a lottery for daily cash prizes, improved medication adherence and disease management. See K. G. Volpp, G. Loewenstein, and A. Troxel et al., “A Test of Financial Incentives to Improve Warfarin Adherence,” BMC Health Services Research, 2008 8:272–72. At Partners HealthCare, tracking heart failure patients through remote monitoring tools, along with efforts to promote behavior change, are credited with reducing hospitalizations related to the disease by 50 percent over several years. See A. Broderick, Partners HealthCare: Connecting Heart Failure Patients to Providers Through Remote Monitoring (New York: The Commonwealth Fund, Jan. 2013).

9 See https://www.alz.org/documents_custom/2016-facts-and-figures.pdf.

10 For examples, see E. Dishman and M. C. Carillo, “Perspective on Everyday Technologies for Alzheimer’s Care: Research Findings, Directions, and Challenges,” Alzheimer’s and Dementia, 2007 3:227–34 and http://www.alz.org/national/documents/etac_proceedings.pdf.

11 J. Holt-Lunstad, T. B. Smith, and J. B. Layton, “Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review,” PLoS Medicine, 2010 7(7):e1000316.

12 Forthcoming, The Gerontologist.

13 U. Sarkar, G. I. Gourley, C. R. Lyles et al., “Usability of Commercially Available Mobile Applications for Diverse Patients,” Journal of General Internal Medicine, published online July 14, 2016.

14 M. Hostetter, S. Klein, D. McCarthy, S. L. Hayes, Findings from a Survey of Health Care Delivery Innovation Centers, (New York: The Commonwealth Fund, April 2015).

15 I. M. Kronish, N. Moise, T. McGinn et al., “An Electronic Adherence Measurement Intervention to Reduce Clinical Inertia in Treatment of Uncontrolled Hypertension: The MATCH Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial,” Journal of General Internal Medicine, Nov. 2016 31(11):1294–1300, http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-016-3757-4.

 

Roundtable: Achieving the Potential of Digital Health for Older Adults

To understand why investors are more interested in digital health technologies for the healthy and wealthy and less for high-need populations including frail elders—even though there may be greater potential to improve their outcomes and lower costs, Transforming Care spoke to a range of experts.

What holds up investment in products for older adults?

 

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LISA SUENNEN, M.A.
Managing Partner
Venture Valkyrie Consulting

For better or worse a lot of investors are a bit afraid of Medicare as a customer even though most of health care is regulated and reimbursed by the government. Some have concerns that reimbursement decisions will be whimsical. There is a lot of anxiety around the viability of self-pay models too. In the venture capital community, there’s also a belief that pure technology—that is technology that’s not tied to service delivery as it is in health care—can be scaled more efficiently, which frankly I don’t believe. This is why they tend to pursue freestanding apps and devices rather than products that may need to be integrated into care delivery models.

The movement toward value-based purchasing may help. As health systems have incentives to manage the cost and quality of care, more may step forward to invest in these technologies. Ideally they will do so in collaboration with entrepreneurs—the great ideas often come from them. To be successful, they need to spend time with the delivery systems and with patients to learn how things work and what the real issues are.

What don’t tech developers and investors understand about older adults?

 

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SARA CZAJA, Ph.D.
Director
Center on Aging at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine

There’s a persistent myth that people over 65 are more or less the same. In fact, they are more heterogeneous than younger adults because they’ve had different life experiences and because not everyone ages in the same way or at the same rate. We see significant variation in cognitive functioning, in health status, and in background demographics—including culture, economic status, and work status. Where patients live and who they live with make a difference. We need to understand these differences to ensure products target the right group and that user testing includes representative samples of patients.

 

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DIANE MAHONEY, R.N., Ph.D.
Director of Gerontechnology Research and Development
Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions School of Nursing

One problem I’ve seen is that developers don’t always have the clinical experience needed to understand the limitations and capabilities by disease state. A lot of the products I’ve seen that are designed to help patients with dementia navigate the world, for example, require skill that’s beyond the competencies of someone who would need wayfinding support. It’s important to think in stages of disease and to incorporate clinical insights. It really calls for collaboration across clinical, technological, and social science fields.

I’d also add that income can be a major barrier. I hear again and again from focus groups that they are excited about the new technologies but they are worried about cost. They are looking for ways to rent technology rather than own it. That model may be hard for a company that’s put a lot of money into R&D, but focus groups tell us it could be way to reach lower-income or working-class families that are more price sensitive. Take medication adherence tools as an example—we are going need something between $900 automated pill dispensers and a $2.99 one from the drug store.

Do developers fully appreciate the level of testing that’s required of technologies that are intended for health care purposes?

 

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MAHONEY

That is an issue. The level of testing required to ensure products are safe and effective is quite rigorous. In our research program we have to do accuracy testing before we go into human trials and we need to make sure the products are stable—that they can detect right and wrong actions on the part of the user. For beta testing, we relied on a 69-year-old without dementia who used the technology and kept a log about what worked and didn’t. Technological stability is really important as well. I find this especially true with products for caregivers. If the technology isn’t stable or has glitches, they’ll abandon it. They are under too much stress already.

 

 

 

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KATHLEEN KELLY, M.P.A.
Executive Director
Family Caregiver Alliance

It’s a long process. Most companies go through one or two business planning cycles and then realize to secure reimbursement they need to demonstrate outcomes. But few have invested in doing pilot studies. There’s also a fair amount of investment required to educate the marketplace about new products. I liken it to microwaves. No one knew how to cook with them—you have to teach people how to do things differently. For some companies, that’s too much of an investment, especially if they are looking at smaller markets, including those targeting the subset of patients with high needs.

What about privacy? Many of these technologies are gathering personal information. Is there a concern the data will be misused?

 

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MAHONEY

When I present or write something about technologies that involve sensors or monitors, I get responses from people in the ethics field that it is unethical that we are invading people’s privacy and about the intrusiveness of technology. In my work I always ask the participants: how did you perceive this technology? Did you find it intrusive? Did it break your privacy? Did you feel exposed? After 20 years, we’ve never had an issue. I am sure there are cases that can go awry but I don’t think to the degree critics suggest and I feel this impedes the field. My research has shown older adults are willing to give up privacy in order to be able to use technology and stay where they want to stay. People also fear that technology will become a substitute for human contact, but we’re seeing it frees up time to talk about more substantive things. Instead of asking an elderly parent, “Did you take your medicine? Did you eat your lunch?” you can talk about more personally satisfying things such as the grandchildren’s activities. We’re seeing this in our work.

 

 

 

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Publications of Note

Depression Care Through Home Health Reduces Hospitalization Risk
A study of an intervention that integrated depression care with home health services found it significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization and rehospitalization for Medicare beneficiaries. The Depression Care for Patients at Home model guides nurses in managing depression during routine home visits. Services include weekly symptom assessment, medication management, care coordination, patient education, and goal setting. Researchers found the program reduced the risk of hospitalization by 35 percent within 30 days of starting home health care and by 28 percent within 60 days. Among participants referred to home health directly from the hospital, the relative risk of being rehospitalized was approximately 55 percent lower. M. L. Bruce, M.C. Lohman, R. L. Greenberg et al., “Integrating Depression Care Management into Medicare Home Health Reduces Risk of 30- and 60-Day Hospitalization: The Depression Care for Patients at Home Cluster-Randomized Trial,” Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Nov. 2016 64(11):2196–203. 

Medicare’s New Bundled Payment Program May Penalize Hospitals That Treat Medically Complex Patients
A study of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement bundled payment program found it may unintentionally penalize hospitals that care for patients with complex medical needs because it lacks a mechanism to account for such complexity. The researchers modeled bonuses and penalties using payment methodologies similar to those outlined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to determine the net difference in payments with and without risk adjustment. They found that payments would be reduced by $827 per episode for each standard-deviation increase in a hospital’s patient complexity. They also found risk adjustment could increase reconciliation payments to some hospitals by as much as $114,184 annually. C. Ellimoottil, A. M. Ryan, H. Hou et al., “Medicare’s New Bundled Payment for Joint Replacement May Penalize Hospitals That Treat Medically Complex Patients,” Health Affairs, Sept. 2016 35(9):1651–7.

Preventable Death Rates Fell in Communities That Expanded Population Health Activities
An analysis of data from 306 metropolitan communities in the U.S. found lower death rates due to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and influenza in communities with multisector networks pursuing population health activities. The study assessed the scope of population health improvement activities implemented in each community—including periodic needs assessments and allocating resources to improve health—and the range of sectors engaged (e.g., public health agencies, hospitals, primary care providers, employers, and schools.) The communities were then categorized based on the degree of collaboration—with stronger networks described as having more “population health system capital.” These communities were more likely than their counterparts to have adopted smoking bans and achieved lower rates of smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity among low-income residents, researchers found. They were also better resourced, suggesting incentives and infrastructure may be needed to support activities in lower resourced areas. G. P. Mays, C. B. Mamaril, and L. R. Timsina, “Preventable Death Rates Fell Where Communities Expanded Population Health Activities Through Multisector Networks,” Health Affairs, Nov. 2016 35(11):2005–13.

Deprivation Index May Help U.S. Reduce Health Disparities
The authors of this article describe how the United Kingdom and New Zealand have collated data from their censuses or administrative data sets to construct indices that capture material and social deprivation and use them to measure socioeconomic variation across communities, assess community needs, inform research, adjust clinical funding, allocate community resources, and determine policy impact. They recommend the U.S. develop a similar index, and suggest models. R. L. Phillips, W. Liaw, P. Crampton et al., “How Other Countries Use Deprivation Indices—and Why the United States Desperately Needs One,” Health Affairs, Nov. 2016 35(11):1991–8. 

Economic Policy Is Linked to Population Health
Using two decades of data from 50 states, researchers found better health outcomes in states that enacted higher tax credits for the poor or higher minimum wages, as well as in states without a right-to-work law that limits union power. Larger tax credits for the poor were associated with better outcomes for six of seven health measures. States with higher-than-average minimum wages had better values on three measures of health: a composite measure of poor health and rates of smoking and obesity, compared with states with an average minimum wage. And the absence of right-to-work laws was associated with better performance of five of seven measures of health, including smoking rates. By contrast, they found three economic policies—tax burden on the rich, corporate tax rate, and sales tax rates—were associated with only one of the seven health measures studied. They conclude economic policies that direct resources to working–class families may improve population health more than policies that target the rich or the population overall. E. Rigby and M. E. Hatch, “Incorporating Economic Policy Into a ‘Health-In-All-Policies’ Agenda,” Health Affairs, Nov. 2016 35(11):2044–52. 

Well-Being Measures Linked to Life Expectancy at the County Level
Researchers seeking to explain geographic disparities in life expectancy not fully explained by differences in race and socioeconomic status investigated whether population well-being—a comprehensive measure of physical, mental, and social health that takes into account factors like stress and access to safe housing and nutritious food—might account for some of the variation. They found at the county level, for every one standard deviation increase in the well-being score, life expectancy was 1.9 years higher for females and 2.6 years higher for males. They remained positively associated even after controlling for race, poverty, and education. A. Arora, E. Spatz, J. Herrin et al., “Population Well-Being Measures Help Explain Geographic Disparities in Life Expectancy at the County Level,” Health Affairs, Nov. 2016 35(11):2075–82. 

Self-Directed Health Budgets a Possible Model for High-Need Patients in the U.S.
The authors of this commentary describe England’s use of self-directed health budgets for patients with complex needs, which allow patients with chronic conditions including diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Parkinson’s disease, and serious mental illness to set their own service priorities and allocate funds accordingly. In coordination with their health care providers and with approval from the National Health Services, patients can choose to spend the money on home-based support services or cover transportation, psychological therapies, and non-traditional services including housing in pursuit of a health goal. A study of the model found it was cost effective relative to traditional care and associated with improved quality of life. The greatest savings were observed among patients with budgets of $1,500 or more. Patients with personal health budgets used fewer acute-care services than their counterparts, and instead increased expenditures on help from support workers, information technology, mobility equipment, physical activity, and education and training, among other things. L. O’Shea and A. B. Bindman, “Personal Health Budgets for Patients with Complex Needs,” New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 10, 2016 375(19):1815–7.

Increased Use of EDs by Newly Covered Medicaid Beneficiaries in Oregon Sustained Over Time
Researchers who had previously found newly insured Medicaid enrollees in Oregon made greater use of emergency departments than those who remained uninsured found the increase in utilization persisted over the two years—suggesting the cause may not be pent-up demand that dissipates over time. They also found that Medicaid coverage increased the probability of a person’s having both an ED visit and an office visit by 13.2 percentage points, suggesting that access to primary care does not curtail ED use, as had been expected. A. N. Finkelstein, S. L. Taubman, H. L. Allen et al., “Effect of Medicaid Coverage on ED Use—Further Evidence from Oregon’s Experiment,” New England Journal of Medicine, Oct. 20, 2016 375(16):1505–7. 

Increases in Government Spending Associated with Higher Performance on County Health Rankings
Researchers found significant positive associations between performance on the County Health Rankings and a community’s spending on some health and non-health expenses. The County Health Rankings score counties based on health outcomes—such as length and quality of life—and factors that assess the social determinants of health and other factors related to the physical and social environment within a county. Overall the researchers found jurisdictions with higher rankings devote larger proportions of their expenditures to community health care and public health, parks and recreation, sewerage, fire protection, and libraries, compared with jurisdictions with lower health outcome rankings. They also found evidence of an association between social services spending and subsequent population health outcomes, even after controlling for health factors. The authors observed decreasing returns on spending in some social service categories, suggesting investment above a certain threshold may yield fewer health benefits. J. M. McCullough and J. P. Leider, “Government Spending In Health and Nonhealth Sectors Associated with Improvement in County Health Rankings,” Health Affairs, Nov. 2016 35(11):2037–43. 

More Attention Needed to Integrating and Aggregating Medical and Social Data
To ensure that data captured in electronic health record (EHR) systems on the social determinants of health can be efficiently and effectively aggregated to inform population health activities, payment reform, and quality improvement initiatives, more attention is needed to the back-end processes for doing so, the authors of this article say. After outlining the potential benefits of pulling data from EHRs, including information available from medical coding tools like the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), which includes “z-codes” that capture patients’ social characteristics, they describe the challenges of doing so. The authors call on medical documentation experts, researchers in health services social interventions, and organizations that have advanced social screening tools as well as other health leaders to reach consensus on best practices and standardization of methods for translating and aggregating data from surveys and EHRs. L. Gottlieb, R. Tobey, J. Cantor et al., “Integrating Social and Medical Data to Improve Population Health: Opportunities and Barriers,” Health Affairs, Nov. 2016 35(11):2116–23. 

Safety-Net Hospitals Reduce Readmissions But May Still Be at a Disadvantage with Penalties
Researchers studying the impact of the Medicare’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program on safety-net hospitals found these hospitals made considerable improvement, lessening the disparity between hospitals serving high and low shares of low-income patients, who are at greater risk of readmission. But they also found safety-net hospitals did not improve as much as hospitals that had similarly high initial readmission rates, which may reflect the difficulties safety-net hospitals face in addressing such issues as homelessness and lack of family support. They say their findings support an approach recommended by MedPAC, which includes evaluating safety-net hospitals against others like them. K. Carey and M. Lin, “Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program: Safety-Net Hospitals Show Improvement, Modifications to Penalty Formula Still Needed,” Health Affairs, Oct. 2016 35(10):1918–23. 

Home Repairs and At-Home Care Improve Physical Functioning of Older Dual Eligibles
The Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE) program deploys teams of occupational therapists, registered nurses, and handymen to the homes of low-income elderly patients to address the challenges they face with activities of daily living (ADLs), such as getting out of bed, going to the toilet, and getting dressed. It also provides home repairs to eliminate safety hazards and improve mobility. A study of the program, funded through a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation demonstration, found it improved patients’ capacity to perform ADLs and reduced symptoms of depression. Participants had difficulty with an average of 3.9 out of 8.0 ADLs at baseline, compared with 2.0 after five months. The ability to perform instrumental ADLs such as shopping and managing medications also improved. Researchers are studying the program’s impact on costs. S. L. Szanton, B. Leff, J. L. Wolff et al., “Home-Based Care Program Reduces Disability and Promotes Aging in Place,” Health Affairs, Sept. 2016 35(9):1558–63. 

Publication Details

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Newsletter Article

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Editorial Advisory Board

Special thanks to Editorial Advisory Board member Lauren Murray for her help with this issue.

Eric Coleman, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine, University of Colorado

Mike Chernew, Ph.D., professor of health policy, Harvard Medical School

Marshall Chin, M.D., M.P.H., professor of healthcare ethics, University of Chicago

Don Goldmann, M.D., chief medical and scientific officer, Institute for Healthcare Improvement

Laura Gottlieb, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of family and community medicine, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine

Carole Roan Gresenz, Ph.D., senior economist, Rand Corp.

Thomas Hartman, vice president, IPRO

Clemens Hong, M.D., M.P.H., medical director of community health improvement, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services

Lauren Murray, director of consumer engagement and community outreach, National Partnership for Women & Families

Kathleen Nolan, managing principal, Health Management Associates

J. Nwando Olayiwola, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of family and community medicine, UCSF School of Medicine

James Pelegano, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of healthcare quality and safety, Thomas Jefferson University

Harold Pincus, M.D., professor of psychiatry, Columbia University

Chris Queram, M.A., president and CEO, Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality

Sara Rosenbaum, J.D., professor of health policy, George Washington University

Michael Rothman, director of quality and operations support, The Permanente Medical Group

Stephen Somers, Ph.D., president and CEO of Center for Health Care Strategies

Mark A. Zezza, vice president, Lewin Group

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http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/transforming-care/2016/december