End-Of-Life Care Planning and Bereavement Practices Among Adult Day Services Centers, 2018.

Introduction: This study describes the end-of-life (EOL) care planning and bereavement practices among adult day services centers (ADSC) when an ADSC participant is dying or has died. Methods: Data are from the 2018 National Study of Long-term Care Providers' biennial survey of ADSCs. Respondents were asked about the following 4 practices: 1) honoring the deceased in some public way in this center; 2) offering bereavement services to staff and participants; 3) documenting in the care plan what is important to the individual at the end of life (EOL), such as the presence of family or religious or cultural practices; and 4) discussing spiritual needs at care planning conferences. ADSC characteristics included US Census region, metropolitan statistical area status, Medicaid authorization, electronic health records (EHR) use, for-profit status, employment of aides, services provision, and model type. Results: About 50% to 30% of ADSCs offered the EOL care planning or bereavement services. Honoring the deceased was the most common practice (53%), followed by bereavement services (37%), discussing spiritual needs (29%), and documenting what is important at EOL (28%). Fewer ADSCs in the West had EOL practices relative to the other regions. The EOL planning and bereavement practices were offered more often in ADSCs that used EHRs, accepted Medicaid, employed an aide, provided nursing, hospice, and palliative care services, and were categorized as medical models, compared with ADSCs without these characteristics. Conclusion: These results highlight the importance of understanding how ADSCs provide EOL and bereavement care to participants who are near EOL.

COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on the National Health Care Surveys.

While underscoring the need for timely, nationally representative data in ambulatory, hospital, and long-term-care settings, the COVID-19 pandemic posed many challenges to traditional methods and mechanisms of data collection. To continue generating data from health care and long-term-care providers and establishments in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Center for Health Statistics had to modify survey operations for several of its provider-based National Health Care Surveys, including quickly adding survey questions that captured the experiences of providing care during the pandemic. With the aim of providing information that may be useful to other health care data collection systems, this article presents some key challenges that affected data collection activities for these national provider surveys, as well as the measures taken to minimize the disruption in data collection and to optimize the likelihood of disseminating quality data in a timely manner. (Am J Public Health. 2021;111(12):2141-2148. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306514).

Risk of fall-related injury and all-cause hospitalization of select concomitant central nervous system medication prescribing in older adult persistent opioid users: A case-time-control analysis.

BACKGROUND: Concomitant use of central nervous system (CNS) medications frequently occurs in older adults with persistent opioid use. The risks of adverse outcomes associated with combinations of opioids, sedative hypnotics, or skeletal muscle relaxants have not been sufficiently described in this population. OBJECTIVE: To compare the overall and incremental risk of (1) fall-related injury and (2) all-cause hospitalization associated with sedative hypnotics and skeletal muscle relaxants among older persistent opioid users. METHODS: A case-time-control study was conducted using administrative claims of adults ages ≥66 years with a history of persistent (≥90 days) opioid use. Cases included those with first (1) emergency department, hospital, or outpatient visit for a fall-related injury, or (2) all-cause hospitalization. Exposure to CNS medications prior to the case event versus earlier periods, and the risk associated with CNS drug class combinations and sequence of use, was estimated using conditional logistic regression, adjusted for time trends and time-varying covariates. RESULTS: Among 140,101 older persistent opioid users, 20,723 experienced fall-related injury and 39,444 were hospitalized during follow-up. Skeletal muscle relaxant use was associated with an increased risk of fall-related injury (Odds ratio [OR] 1.28) and all-cause hospitalization (OR 1.11). Statistically significant associations were observed for the joint effects of interactions involving skeletal muscle relaxants on fall-related injury (with opioid: OR 1.25; with sedative hypnotic: OR 1.24), and interactions involving opioids on all-cause hospitalization (with sedative hypnotic: OR 1.10; with skeletal muscle relaxant: OR 1.17). The addition of a skeletal muscle relaxant to an opioid regimen was associated with a 25% increased risk of fall-related injury. Additions of other CNS medications did not have apparent incremental effects on the risk of all-cause hospitalization. CONCLUSION: The excess risks of fall-related injury and hospitalization associated with various combinations of CNS medications among older persistent opioid users should be considered in therapeutic decision making. Further research is needed to confirm these findings.

Advance Directives State Requirements, Center Practices, and Participant Prevalence in Adult Day Services Centers: Findings From the 2016 National Study of Long-Term Care Providers.

OBJECTIVES: Adult day services centers (ADSCs) may serve as an entrée to advance care planning. This study examined state requirements for ADSCs to provide advance directives (ADs) information to ADSC participants, ADSCs' awareness of requirements, ADSCs' practice of providing AD information, and their associations with the percentage of participants with ADs. METHODS: Using the 2016 National Study of Long-Term Care Providers, analyses included 3,305 ADSCs that documented ADs in participants' files. Bivariate and linear regression analyses were conducted. RESULTS: Nine states had a requirement to provide AD information. About 80.8% of ADSCs provided AD information and 41.3% of participants had documented ADs. There were significant associations between state requirements, awareness, and providing information with AD prevalence. State requirement was mediated by awareness. DISCUSSION: This study found many ADSCs provided AD information, and ADSCs that thought their state had a requirement and provided information was associated with AD prevalence, regardless of state requirements.

Is prescribing by PAs and NPs comparable to physician prescribing?

PAs and NPs have broad prescribing authority in the United States, yet little is known about how the quality of their prescribing practices compares with that of physicians. The quality of prescribing practices of physicians, PAs, and NPs was investigated through a serial cross-sectional analysis of the 2006-2012 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS). Ambulatory care services in physician offices, hospital EDs, and outpatient departments were evaluated using a nationally representative sample of patient visits to physicians, PAs, and NPs. Main outcome measures were 13 validated outpatient quality indicators focused on pharmacologic management of chronic diseases and appropriate medication use. The study sampled 701,499 patient visits during the study period, representing about 8.3 billion visits nationwide. Physicians were the primary provider for 96.8% of all outpatient visits examined; PAs and NPs each accounted for 1.6% of these visits. The proportion of eligible visits in which quality standards were met ranged from 34.1% (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor use for patients with heart failure) to 89.5% (avoidance of inappropriate medications in older adults). The median overall performance across all indicators was 58.7%. On unadjusted analyses, differences in quality of care between PAs, NPs, and physicians for each indicator did not consistently favor one practitioner type over others. After adjustment for potentially confounding patient and provider characteristics, the quality of prescribing by PAs and NPs was similar to the care delivered by physicians for 10 of the 13 indicators evaluated, and no consistent directional association was found between provider type and indicator fulfillment for the remaining measures. Although significant shortfalls exist in the quality of ambulatory prescribing across all practitioner types, the quality of care delivered by PAs, NPs, and physicians was generally comparable.1.

Advance Directive Documentation Among Adult Day Services Centers and Use Among Participants, by Region and Center Characteristics: National Study of Long-Term Care Providers, 2016.

This report describes the percentage of adult day services centers (ADSCs) that typically maintain documentation of participants' advance directives by region and center characteristics. Further, among ADSCs that maintain documentation, this report describes the percentage of participants with advance directives by region and center characteristics.

National Hospital Care Survey Demonstration Projects: Characteristics of Inpatient and Emergency Department Encounters Among Patients With Any Listed Diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease.

Objective-This report demonstrates the use of National Hospital Care Survey (NHCS) data using Alzheimer disease (AD) as an outcome. Inpatient discharges and emergency room encounters among patients with AD are described to demonstrate the use of NHCS. The capability of NHCS to link across hospital settings and to the National Death Index (NDI) is highlighted. The data are unweighted and are not nationally representative. Methods-This study analyzed inpatient (IP) and emergency department (ED) data from the 83 nonchildren's hospitals in the 2014 NHCS, out of a sample of 581 hospitals that provided Uniform Bill (UB)-04 administrative claims data for both the IP and ED settings. Encounters with any listed diagnosis of AD were identified using an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis code. Individual patients who had any encounter during calendar year 2014 were linked across different hospital-based settings during the same year and with NDI to identify deaths in 2014 or 2015. Results-Analyses are presented on IP and ED encounters with any listed diagnosis of AD to highlight the analytical capabilities of NHCS not available in previous surveys. New data elements not available in the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHCS' predecessor survey) are analyzed, including intensive care use, and diagnostic and therapeutic services received. Linkage across hospital settings (IP and ED) allows for differentiation of patients who were admitted directly as inpatients from those who were admitted as inpatients from the ED, and allows for identification of patients with only an ED encounter. Linkage to NDI allows for analyses of the underlying cause of death for those deaths occurring in 2014 and 2015. Although these data are not nationally representative, NHCS provides unique analytical opportunities to examine health care utilization among patients with AD across settings.

Evaluation of Transition From ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Coding System in the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

Objective-On October 1, 2015, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) replaced ICD-9-CM (Ninth Revision) as the diagnosis coding scheme for the U.S. health care system. This study evaluates the impact of this change on the way the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reports diagnosis data for the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). Methods-The patient visit records of office-based physicians from the 2014 NAMCS final quarter (n = 20,942) were reviewed. The diagnoses assigned to each record were coded in both ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM by professional medical coders. NCHS staff reviewed how well the codes of the primary diagnosis under the two coding systems corresponded to each other. Results-The review showed that 89% of the visit records had compatible ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM codes for the primary diagnosis, meaning that the primary diagnosis would be grouped under the same Primary Diagnosis Group (PDG) according to both ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM, and it would be correctly assigned to only one PDG. The reasons for mismatches in the ICD-10-CM assignments included coder error (5%), documentation issues such as uncodable diagnoses (3%), and differences between ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM (2%).

Collecting Practice-level Data in a Changing Physician Office-based Ambulatory Care Environment: A Pilot Study Examining the Physician induction interview Component of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

Objective This report examines ways to improve National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) data on practice and physician characteristics in multispecialty group practices. Methods From February to April 2013, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) conducted a pilot study to observe the collection of the NAMCS physician interview information component in a large multispecialty group practice. Nine physicians were randomly sampled using standard NAMCS recruitment procedures; eight were eligible and agreed to participate. Using standard protocols, three field representatives conducted NAMCS physician induction interviews (PIIs) while trained ethnographers observed and audio recorded the interviews. Transcripts and field notes were analyzed to identify recurrent issues in the data collection process. Results The majority of the NAMCS items appeared to have been easily answered by the physician respondents. Among the items that appeared to be difficult to answer, three themes emerged: (a) physician respondents demonstrated an inconsistent understanding of "location" in responding to questions; (b) lack of familiarity with administrative matters made certain questions difficult for physicians to answer; and (c) certain primary care­oriented questions were not relevant to specialty care providers. Conclusions Some PII survey questions were challenging for physicians in a multispecialty practice setting. Improving the design and administration of NAMCS data collection is part of NCHS' continuous quality improvement process.

Characteristics of Primary Care Physicians in Patient-centered Medical Home Practices: United States, 2013.

Objective-This report describes the characteristics of primary care physicians in patient-centered medical home (PCMH) practices and compares these characteristics with those of primary care physicians in non-PCMH practices. Methods-The data presented in this report were collected during the induction interview for the 2013 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a national probability sample survey of nonfederal physicians who see patients in office settings in the United States. Analyses exclude anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists, and physicians in community health centers. In this report, PCMH status is self-defined as having been certified by one of the following organizations: Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, The Joint Commission, National Committee for Quality Assurance, URAC, or other certifying bodies. Estimates exclude physicians missing information on PCMH status. Sample data are weighted to produce national estimates of physicians and characteristics of their practices. Results-In 2013, 18.0% of office-based primary care physicians worked in practices certified as PCMHs. A higher percentage of primary care physicians in PCMH practices (68.8%) had at least one physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or certified nurse midwife on staff compared with non-PCMH practices (47.7%). A higher percentage of primary care physicians in PCMH practices reported electronic transmission (69.6%) as the primary method for receiving information on patients hospitalized or seen in emergency departments compared with non-PCMH practices (41.5%). The percentage of primary care physicians in practices reporting quality measures or quality indicators to payers or organizations monitoring health care quality was higher in PCMH practices (86.8%) compared with non-PCMH practices (70.2%).

Concomitant Opioid and Laxative Use in Older Adults in Hospice Care in the United States: 2007.

OBJECTIVES: To examine laxative use by individuals in hospice who were taking opioids during the last week of life. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional. SETTING: 2007 National Home and Hospice Care Survey. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals in hospice aged 65 and older who were taking opioids during the last week of life (N = 2,825). MEASUREMENTS: Hospice staff were asked the names of all medications and drugs that participants were taking 7 days before and on the day of death while in hospice, including any standing, routine, or as-needed medications." Medications "used" included medications taken and as-needed medications provided in case a symptom developed. Opioids included all opioid-combination drugs. Laxatives included fibers, lubricants, stimulants, and suppositories. RESULTS: Forty-one percent of participants had cancer as the primary hospice diagnosis, 13% heart disease, 12% debility, 11% dementia, 8% lung disease, and 15% other. Overall, 52% of opioid users used a laxative in the last week of life; the proportions of opioid and laxative users did not differ according to diagnosis. Racial minorities taking opioids had lower odds than white participants (odds ratio (OR) = 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.33-0.99) of using laxatives. Participants taking opioids enrolled in hospice for 7 days or less had lower odds of using laxatives than those enrolled for more than 7 days (OR = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.37-0.95), as did those in hospice inpatient, hospital, or other settings (OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.43-0.93) than those in long-term care settings. Participants using five or fewer medications had lower odds of using laxatives than those using six to 10 (OR = 6.01, 95% CI = 3.88-9.32) or 11 to 25 medications (OR = 13.80, 95% CI = 8.74-21.80). CONCLUSION: In 2007, slightly more than half of older adults in hospice who were taking opioids used laxatives during the last week of life. Recent quality indicators from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recommend laxative treatment when opioid therapy is initiated to prevent opioid-induced constipation and are intended to improve laxative use in individuals in hospice treated with opioids.

Toward a More Complete Picture of Outpatient, Office-Based Health Care in the U.S.

The healthcare system in the U.S., particularly outpatient, office-based care, has been shifting toward service delivery by advanced practice providers, particularly nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs). The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the leading source of nationally representative data on care delivered by office-based physicians. This paper first describes NAMCS, then discusses key NAMCS expansion efforts, and finally presents major findings from two exploratory studies that assess the feasibility of collecting data from NPs and PAs as sampled providers in NAMCS. The first NAMCS expansion effort began in 2006 when the NAMCS sample was expanded to include community health centers and started collecting and disseminating data on physicians, NPs, PAs, and nurse midwives in these settings. Then, in 2013, NCHS included workforce questions in NAMCS on the composition and clinical tasks of all healthcare staff in physician offices. Finally, in 2013-2014, NCHS conducted two exploratory studies and found that collecting data from NPs and PAs as sampled providers in NAMCS is feasible. However, modifications to the current NAMCS procedures may be necessary, for example, changing recruitment strategies, visit sampling procedures, and physician-centric survey items. Collectively, these NCHS initiatives are important for healthcare research, practice, and policy communities in their efforts toward providing a more complete picture of the changing outpatient, office-based workforce, team-based care approach, and service utilization in the U.S.

Medications That Older Adults in Hospice Care in the United States Take, 2007.

OBJECTIVES: To describe medications that older adults in hospice with cancer, dementia, debility, heart disease, and lung disease take during the last week of life. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: Nationally representative sample of 695 U.S. hospices in the 2007 National Home and Hospice Care Survey. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 65 and older with a primary diagnosis of cancer (49%), dementia (12%), debility (14%), heart disease (16%), or lung disease (10%) who received end-of-life care during their last week of life (N = 2,623). MEASUREMENTS: Medication data were obtained from hospice staff, who were asked, "What are the names of all the medications and drugs the patient was taking 7 days prior to and on the day of his or her death while in hospice? Please include any standing, routine, or PRN medications." RESULTS: The unweighted survey response rate was 71%. The average number of medications taken was 10.2. The most common therapeutic classes were analgesics (98%); antiemetic and antivertigo medications (78%); anxiolytics, sedatives, and hypnotics (76%); anticonvulsants (71%); and laxatives (53%). Approximately one-quarter of the individuals took proton pump inhibitors, anticoagulants, and antidepressants, and fewer than 20% took antacids and antibiotics. A smaller percentage of individuals with dementia and debility than of those with cancer took opioid analgesics. Individuals with heart disease were more likely than individuals in the other clinical cohorts to take diuretics, and those with lung disease were more likely than those in the other clinical cohorts to take bronchodilators. A higher percentage of individuals with dementia and with debility than with cancer and lung disease took antidepressants. CONCLUSION: People continue to receive disease-focused therapies at the end of life rather than therapies exclusively for palliation of symptoms, suggesting that treatments may vary according to the person's primary diagnosis.