Evaluation of COPD Chronic Care Management Collaborative to Reduce Emergency Department and Hospital Revisits Across U.S. Hospitals.

Abstract

Background Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the third-leading cause of early readmissions. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid instituted a financial penalty for excessive COPD readmissions galvanizing hospitals to implement effective strategies to reduce readmissions. We evaluated a 6-month COPD Chronic Care Management Collaborative to support hospitals to reduce preventable COPD-related revisits. Methods Sites were recruited among nearly 300 Vizient members. The Collaborative used performance improvement initiatives to assist with implementation of effective strategies. Participants submitted performance data for two outcome measures: emergency department (ED) and hospital revisits. Results Forty-seven members enrolled (Part I+II: n=33; Part I: n=3; Part II: n=11) of which 23 submitted data (n=23/47). The majority (n=19/23, 83%) reduced rates of COPD-related ED and/or hospital revisits. Among all 23 sites, the change in ED visits went from 11.05% to 10.87%; among 7 sites with reductions in ED visits, the reduction was 12.7% to 9%. Among all 23 sites, there were not reductions hospital readmissions (18.53% to 18.64%); among 7 sites with reductions, the readmission rate went from 20.1% to 15.6%. The mean reach across 17 hospitals reporting reach for their most successful measure at baseline was 35.2% (SD = 26.7%) and for the six reporting reach at follow-up was 73.8%% (SD = 18.3%); of note, only three sites submitted both baseline and follow-up data. Conclusions The Collaborative successfully supported the majority of sites to reduce COPD-related ED and/or hospital revisits using subject matter experts and coaching strategies to support hospitals' implementation of COPD quality improvement interventions.