A hospital care coordination team intervention for patients with multimorbidity: A practice-based, participatory pilot study.

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to develop and pilot a hospital care coordination team intervention for patients with multimorbidity and identify key uncertainties.

Methods: Practice-based, participatory pilot study with mixed methods in a middle-large teaching hospital. We included adult patients who had visited seven or more outpatient specialist clinics in 2018. The intervention consisted of an intake, a comprehensive review by a dedicated care coordination team, a consultation to discuss results and two follow-up appointments. We collected both quantitative and qualitative data.

Results: Out of 131 invited patients, 28 participants received the intake and comprehensive review. The intervention resulted in mixed outputs and short-term outcomes. Among the 28 participants, 21 received recommendations for at least two out of three categories (medication, involved medical specialists, other). Patients' experienced effects ranged from no to very large effects. Key uncertainties were how to identify patients with a need for care coordination and the minimum of required data that can be collected during regular clinical care with feasible effort.

Discussion: Recruitment and selection for hospital care coordination should be refined to include patients with multimorbidity who might benefit most. Outcomes of research and clinical care should align and first focus on evaluating the results of care coordination before evaluating health-related outcomes.