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Postdischarge Communication Between Home Health Nurses and Physicians: Measurement, Quality, and Outcomes
Author(s) -
Press Matthew J.,
Gerber Linda M.,
Peng Timothy R.,
Pesko Michael F.,
Feldman Penny H.,
Ouchida Karin,
Sridharan Sridevi,
Bao Yuhua,
Barron Yolanda,
Casalino Lawrence P.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/jgs.13491
Subject(s) - medicine , medical record , retrospective cohort study , health care , family medicine , cohort , medical emergency , emergency medicine , economics , economic growth
Objectives To use natural language processing (NLP) of text from electronic medical records (EMRs) to identify failed communication attempts between home health nurses and physicians, to identify predictors of communication failure, and to assess the association between communication failure and hospital readmission. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), the nation's largest freestanding home health agency. Participants Medicare beneficiaries with congestive heart failure who received home health care from VNSNY after hospital discharge in 2008–09 (N = 5,698). Measurements Patient‐level measures of communication failure and risk‐adjusted 30‐day all‐cause readmission. Results Identification of failed communication attempts using NLP had high external validity (kappa = 0.850, P < .001). A mean of 8% of communication attempts failed per episode of home care; failure rates were higher for black patients and lower for patients from higher median income ZIP codes. The association between communication failure and readmission was not significant with adjustment for patient, nurse, physician, and hospital factors. Conclusion NLP of EMRs can be used to identify failed communication attempts between home health nurses and physicians, but other variables mostly explained the association between communication failure and readmission. Communication failures may contribute to readmissions in more‐serious clinical situations, an association that this study may have been underpowered to detect.