A pragmatic randomized controlled trial of a cardiac hospital-to-home transitional care program in a Singapore academic medical center

Background Rehospitalizations are common in healthcare. They are costly for hospitals and patients and a substantial percentage are preventable, partly because hospital-to-community transitions are often unmanaged or poorly managed. In this study, we conducted a pragmatic randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a new nurse–practitioner-led transitional care program called CareHub, piloted in Singapore’s National University Hospital. Methods Study population included all eligible cardiac patients admitted between July 2016 and November 2016. Patients were followed for six months post-discharge. Primary outcomes other than emergency department visits were all cardiac-related: number of readmissions, specialist visits, emergency department visits, and total days readmitted. Secondary outcomes: variables related to quality of life and transitional care. Regression analyses were used to estimate the intent-to-treat effect of CareHub and explore treatment heterogeneity. Results CareHub reduced the mean number of unplanned readmissions by 0.23 (a 39% reduction relative to control mean of 0.60 unplanned readmissions, p < 0.05), mean number of all readmissions by 0.20 (31% reduction relative to control mean of 0.63 readmissions, p = 0.10), mean number of total unplanned days in hospital by 2.2 (56% reduction relative to control mean of 4.0 days, p < 0.05), mean number of total days in hospital by 2.0 (42% reduction relative to control mean of 4.3 days, p < 0.10). Treatment effects varied by pre-admission health and socio-economic status. Conclusion A carefully designed protocolized cardiac hospital-to-home transition program can reduce resource utilization while improving quality of life.