A Trial of Post-Discharge Transitional Care for Patients With Chronic Liver Disease

This study is a stepped-wedge randomized trial of 1,000 patients with advanced liver disease at four high-volume centers over 45 months (250 participants/site; \<6 participants/site/month) to evaluate the efficacy of the Transitional Liver Clinic (TLC) compared to control. In the stepped-wedge design, all sites provide usual care (control) during the initial 9-month enrollment interval. At each subsequent 9-month interval, one site is randomized via a computer-generated randomization scheme to crossover to implement the TLC, which will continue through the final interval where all sites will have implemented the TLC. All sites enroll for the entire 45 months and thus contribute patients to both the control and TLC groups. There are an equal number of TLC and control intervals; thus approximately 500 patients will be in each group. Participant follow-up will occur by telephone at 30 and 90 days after discharge.