Patient Navigation for Medicaid Frequent ED Users

Yale University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Chronic Illness

Treatments: Behavioral: Patient Navigator; Other: Standard of Care

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01797068

1007007154

Details and patient eligibility

About

A large proportion of frequent ED users have Medicaid insurance. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of patient navigation for reducing Emergency Department (ED) visits and hospitalizations and improving patient-centered outcomes (e.g., self-reported health status, quality of life, access/barriers to care) among Medicaid patients who are high utilizers of the ED, as well as to identify best practices for engaging and providing healthcare services to underserved patients using patient navigation. This study will address needs that have been identified within the New Haven community and the local healthcare system, contribute to knowledge and literature surrounding the use of patient navigation to improve care for underserved patients and improve health system efficiency, and inform the design and development of programs that address these needs both locally and in other communities.

Enrollment: 100 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 62 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 4-18 ED visits per year
• Frequent ED users
• age 18 to 62
• Medicaid insurance only
• Those living in the greater New Haven area (i.e. having a zip code that matches that)

Exclusion criteria

• the current visit for primary psychiatric or substance abuse
• more than 50% of all ED visits in the past year for primary psychiatric or substance abuse.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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100 participants in 2 patient groups

Patient Navigator

Experimental group

Description:

Patients in the experimental group will be offered patient navigation and timely access to comprehensive care and services through Project Access-New Haven (PA-NH).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Patient Navigator

Standard of Care

Active Comparator group

Description:

Patients in the active comparator group will experience the usual intake process in the ED setting.

Treatment:

Other: Standard of Care