Identifying opportunities for community EMS fall prevention

Background

Falls are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among older adults in the United States. Current fall prevention interventions rely on provider referral or enrollment during inpatient admissions and require engagement and independence of the patient. Community emergency medical services (CEMS) are a unique opportunity to rapidly identify older adults at risk for falls and provide proactive fall prevention interventions in the home. We describe the demographics and treatment characteristics of the older adult population most likely to benefit from these interventions.

Materials and methods

We linked 2019 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Massachusetts State Emergency Department (ED) and State Inpatient Databases with American Hospital Association survey data to query ED encounters and inpatient admissions for adults age ≥55 with ED encounters for fall-related injury between July 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019. Univariable descriptive statistics assessed participant characteristics and bivariable tests of significance compared diagnoses, disposition, and hospital characteristics between older adults with and without an EMS encounter in the six months prior to the presenting fall.

Results

Of 66,027 older adults who presented with a fall to a Massachusetts ED in July-December 2019, 7,942 (11%) had a prior encounter with EMS in the preceding six months, most of which included an injury diagnosis (99%). Compared to older adults without previous EMS encounters, those with previous EMS encounters were more often in poorer health (17% vs. 10% with multiple or complex comorbidities, p < 0.001) and of lower socioeconomic status (12% vs. 8% in lowest neighborhood income quartile, p < 0.001; 10% vs. 6% enrolled in Medicaid, p < 0.001) compared to those without a prior EMS encounter.

Conclusions

A significant proportion of older adults presenting to the ED with fall related injury have encounters with EMS in the preceding months. These participants are predisposed to poorer health and economic outcomes worsened by their fall and thus demonstrate a population that would benefit from CEMS fall prevention programs.