Nursing home database tracks care patterns
The Health Care Financing Administration has funded a contract to link two complex computer medical records databases to observe patterns of care in the large number of New York nursing home patients who require hospitalization each year.
The study, which will be performed by IPRO in Lake Success, NY, will link the Minimum Data Sets + (MDS+), a database of patients either recently admitted to a nursing home or nursing home patients who have had a significant change in their health status, and MEDPAR, a database of the records of Medicare patients who are discharged from hospitals.
Nationally, 28% of nursing home patients need hospitalization each year in an acute care facility. By matching information in these two databases, the study may identify ways to improve patient care and prevent admissions. Linkage of the two data sets is expected to be completed this spring and analysis of patterns of nursing home transfers to hospitals should be finished by September.
The MDS+ database is provided electronically on a monthly basis to the New York State Department of Health by nursing home facilities and comprises 500,000 to 600,000 records of patients annually. New York is one of five demonstration states for the MDS+ database.
The MEDPAR database includes information on the condition of Medicare patients upon admission to an acute care facility, the scope of care they received while in the hospital, and their condition upon discharge.
IPRO, a federally designated peer review and quality improvement organization, will supplement the databases with a match to the Medicaid Management Information Systems for patients who have exhausted Medicare benefits. This will assure a comprehensive database, including patients who move from Medicaid coverage in nursing facilities to Medicare in acute care settings. For more information, contact IPRO at (516) 326-7767.
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