Improving Palliative Care Access Through Technology

This project will focus on developing, optimizing and pilot-testing a multi-component Improving Access Through Technology (ImPAcTT) intervention that leverages existing telehealth technologies to provide staff education; family outreach, engagement and support; care coordination; and resident symptom management and facilitation of goals-of-care discussion.

Almost 1.8 million older Americans live in nursing homes (NH), with estimates that this number will grow to more than 3 million by 2050. NHs are increasingly becoming the place of care and site of death for frail older adults dying from multiple chronic illnesses. Unfortunately, most residents die without the benefit of palliative care (PC) or with palliation delayed until the last days of life. Unfortunately, hospice services are often the only formal end of life care service available in NHs, and access to hospice enrollment is complicated by financial implications for both NHs and residents. Telehealth, or remote monitoring of patients through information and communication technologies, is an effective mechanism for addressing the increased demand on health services and has much to offer to people living with and dying from advanced illness. Moreover, numerous studies have demonstrated positive benefits of using telehealth in the NH to improve access to consultants (e.g., neurology, dermatology, psychiatry). Little is known, however, about the effect of using Telehealth on improving access to PC specialists in the NH setting. The proposed ImPAcTT intervention employs a secure communications platform that permits multi-person live video, audio, and text message consultations; real-time document sharing and documentation for advanced care planning discussions; and remote virtual assessment capabilities. The investigator will conduct a pilot implementation trial of ImPAcTT in 3 study nursing homes to evaluate our ability to safely recruit and retain study participants, collect appropriate and accurate data, and determine preliminary estimates of an effect size of the intervention.