Grantees Grudzen, Hwang Publish Early Geriatric ED Findings in Health Affairs
Applying palliative care principles to emergency departments may reduce the number of geriatric patients admitted to ICUs, possibly extending lives and reducing Medicare costs, according to a three-year analysis by Mount Sinai researchers published in the May edition of Health Affairs, under the journal's Aging & Health series sponsored by the John A. Hartford Foundation.
Applying palliative care principles to emergency departments may reduce the number of geriatric patients admitted to ICUs, possibly extending lives and reducing Medicare costs, according to a three-year analysis by Mount Sinai researchers published in the May edition of Health Affairs, under the journal's Aging & Health series sponsored by the John A. Hartford Foundation. The article was authored by John A. Hartford Foundation grantees Corita Grudzen, MD, MSHS, a Practice Change Leader formerly of Mount Sinai and now at NYU Langone Medical Center, along with Ula Hwang, MD, MPH, a former Jahnigen Scholar at Mount Sinai.
The changes in emergency care examined in this preliminary analysis were developed through Mount Sinai's Geriatric Emergency Department Innovations in Care Through Workforce, Informatics and Structural Enhancements program, also known as GEDI WISE.
"Data show that more than half of Americans ages 65 and older are seen in the emergency department in the last month of their lives, and that the number and rate of admissions to intensive care units among older adults who are seen in the ED have also increased," said Corita Grudzen, MD, the lead author of the study and former Mount Sinai Health System physician. "Our findings suggest that early palliative care inpatient consultation can improve care for older patients, decrease hospital lengths-of-stay and costs, and even extend life. The potential for this approach to improve the quality and value of geriatric emergency care warrants continued study."
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