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Post-cardiac SurgeryNCT03353155

Effectiveness of Transitional Care Services

A study testing CareHub in people with Post-cardiac Surgery, run by Johns Hopkins University at 1 site in Singapore.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

The National University Hospital System has designed and is piloting an improved post-discharge care programme called CareHub for patients undergoing cardiac surgery. CareHub is a post-discharge care programme that is designed to streamline and better coordinate current programmes for patients at high risk of… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 to 99 years
Conditions the study is for
Post-cardiac Surgery
What is being tested?
CareHub
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
270 participants
Where
1 siteSingapore
Study dates
1 Jul 2016to 1 Oct 2017
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 to 99 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • All patients admitted to the cardiac inpatient service post-cardiac surgery

Who cannot join

  • Patients that do not consent or are unable to consent to be included into CareHub

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Singapore1 site
  • National University Hospital

    Singapore

Other trials in Singapore

About this study

Official title: Can Refinements to Effective Transitional Care Services Improve Outcomes? Results From a Pragmatic, Randomized Controlled Trial.

The National University Hospital System has designed and is piloting an improved post-discharge care programme called CareHub for patients undergoing cardiac surgery. CareHub is a post-discharge care programme that is designed to streamline and better coordinate current programmes for patients at high risk of readmission.

To assess the clinical and cost-effectiveness of CareHub, our team will randomly assign patients to a usual care setting or CareHub setting, and measure clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, readmissions, and length of stay through 6 months post-discharge in both groups.Patients enrolled in both groups will receive post-discharge care for six months after discharge. CareHub patients will receive a single point of contact for access to usual care services. Recruitment for this pilot will be from 20 April 2016 - approximately late October 2016, and the CareHub team will provide 6 months of post-discharge support. The entire pilot will thus run from 20 April 2016 - April / May 2017, with data collection extending 6 months after the last patient is enrolled.

Read the detailed description

Today, the National University Hospital System has a variety of transitional / post-discharge care programmes, and patients may be enrolled in more than one. Each of these programmes is run by a different hospital team, so a patient may have to liaise with many parties for their post-discharge care.

The National University Hospital System has designed and is piloting an improved post-discharge care programme called CareHub for patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Recruitment for this pilot will be from 20 April 2016 - approximately late October 2016, and the CareHub team will provide 6 months of post-discharge support. The entire pilot will thus run from 20 April 2016 - April / May 2017.

CareHub is a post-discharge care programme that is designed to streamline and better coordinate current programmes for patients at high risk of readmission. Patients enrolled in CareHub and usual care will receive post-discharge care for six months after discharge. However, patients in CareHub will experience:

(i) Provision of a single point of contact for all the patient's needs, to help patients and their families navigate the healthcare system as well as various programmes available in the hospital and community. Care Coordinator identifies patients and starts working with care team during the inpatient phase, and follows patient through to the post-discharge phase.

(ii) More structured and regular telephone support and checks, to help ease the hospital-to-home transition, as well as to provide more opportunity to verify that patients are adhering to their recommended treatment (which may include e.g. checking that patients have made use of the daycare services CareHub recommended).

(iii) A call center which will operate during office hours, where tele-consult will be available from and nurses/care coordinators.

(iv) A consolidated multi-disciplinary discharge plan, based on the input of all healthcare workers caring for the patient. These include the CareHub coordinator, ward doctor and nurse, heart failure care manager, and allied health professionals, as required.

(v) Early identification and preparation for post-discharge care. Healthcare workers listed in (iv) will participate in a daily in-patient multi-disciplinary ward huddle, to discuss the patient's condition and start early preparation for post-discharge care.

To assess the clinical and cost-effectiveness of CareHub, our team will randomly assign patients to a usual care setting or CareHub setting, and measure clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, readmissions, and length of stay through 6 months post-discharge in both groups.

Being tested
Usual Care, CareHub

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Usual CareBehavioural

  • CareHubBehavioural

Study groups in NCT03353155
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Usual CareActive comparatorTelephone and/or home visits at 1 week, and thereafter, monthly for 6 months, to check on medication compliance and/or medical social problems and/or physical therapy needs and/or health-related financial challenges by the relevant service departments as recommended by the discharging physician.
Receives: Behavioral: Usual Care
CareHubActive comparatorTelephone follow-up by a nurse care coordinator acting as single point of contact for medication compliance and/or medical social problems and/or physical therapy needs and/or health-related financial challenges based on automatic enrollment using ACE score cut-off at admission.
Receives: Behavioral: CareHub

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Post-discharge length of stay

    Patient's length of stay for any readmissions following index admission

    Measured: 6 months

  2. Unplanned readmissions

    Whether patients were admitted for a cardiac complaint after index admission

    Measured: 6 months

  3. Cardiac-related specialist outpatient clinic visits

    The number of post-index admission visits to an outpatient clinic for cardiac consults

    Measured: 6 months

  4. Emergency department visits

    The number of emergency department visits post-index admission

    Measured: 6 months

Secondary outcomes (1)
  1. Net cost of service utilization

    CareHub cost/patient minus Usual Care cost/patient

    Measured: 6 months

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted27 Nov 2017
  2. Study start1 Jul 2016
  3. Primary completion30 Nov 2016
  4. Study completion1 Oct 2017

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Health services research
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Model description
Patients are randomly assigned to one of two groups. Group 1 is usual care, in which patients are followed up after surgery by the ambulatory clinic assigned to their case. Patients in usual care have access to occupational and physical therapy, and medical social work, if they choose to use them. Group 2 is CareHub, in which patients are followed up by a dedicated care coordinator who proactively calls patients at home and schedules their clinic appointments, and consults with therapists and medical social workers.
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
270 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT03353155
Sponsor's protocol ID
NUHSCareHub
Status last verified
Aug 2018
First submitted
12 Nov 2017
Last updated
24 Aug 2018
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No: Individual participate data has been de-identified. There are currently no plans to share the data.

Publications

  • Jencks SF, Williams MV, Coleman EA. Rehospitalizations among patients in the Medicare fee-for-service program. N Engl J Med. 2009 Apr 2;360(14):1418-28. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa0803563.

    PubMed 19339721
  • Coleman EA. Falling through the cracks: challenges and opportunities for improving transitional care for persons with continuous complex care needs. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2003 Apr;51(4):549-55. doi: 10.1046/j.1532-5415.2003.51185.x.

    PubMed 12657078
  • Greysen SR, Harrison JD, Kripalani S, Vasilevskis E, Robinson E, Metlay J, Schnipper JL, Meltzer D, Sehgal N, Ruhnke GW, Williams MV, Auerbach AD. Understanding patient-centred readmission factors: a multi-site, mixed-methods study. BMJ Qual Saf. 2017 Jan;26(1):33-41. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004570. Epub 2016 Jan 14.

    PubMed 26769841
  • Wee SL, Loke CK, Liang C, Ganesan G, Wong LM, Cheah J. Effectiveness of a national transitional care program in reducing acute care use. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2014 Apr;62(4):747-53. doi: 10.1111/jgs.12750. Epub 2014 Mar 17.

    PubMed 24635373
  • Coleman EA, Smith JD, Frank JC, Min SJ, Parry C, Kramer AM. Preparing patients and caregivers to participate in care delivered across settings: the Care Transitions Intervention. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2004 Nov;52(11):1817-25. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2004.52504.x.

    PubMed 15507057
  • Naylor M, Brooten D, Jones R, Lavizzo-Mourey R, Mezey M, Pauly M. Comprehensive discharge planning for the hospitalized elderly. A randomized clinical trial. Ann Intern Med. 1994 Jun 15;120(12):999-1006. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-120-12-199406150-00005.

    PubMed 8185149
  • Allen J, Hutchinson AM, Brown R, Livingston PM. Quality care outcomes following transitional care interventions for older people from hospital to home: a systematic review. BMC Health Serv Res. 2014 Aug 15;14:346. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-14-346.

    PubMed 25128468

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing CareHub in people with Post-cardiac Surgery, run by Johns Hopkins University at 1 site in Singapore.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 24 Aug 2018. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Singapore. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Post-discharge length of stay (time frame: 6 months). The study lists 4 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT03353155, which also lists 7 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 24 Aug 2018; AzTrials last refreshed its copy on 4 Nov 2026.

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