Key result
Transitional care clinics reduce ED visits or readmissions for patients lacking a primary care provider.
Why the study?
Timely postdischarge follow-up is essential to reducing avoidable harms, but may be unattainable for patients without a primary care provider.
Do transitional care clinics reduce ED visits, readmissions, and mortality in patients discharged from the hospital without a primary care provider?
Systematic Review
Yes
Do transitional care clinics reduce ED visits, readmissions, and mortality in patients discharged from the hospital without a primary care provider?
Transitional care clinics may be effective in reducing hospital contacts such as ED visits and readmissions for patients discharged without an established primary care provider.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May support transitional care clinic referral for patients discharged without a PCP; extends limited evidence but leaves mortality and optimal design open.
BACKGROUND: The transition from hospital to home is a high-risk period. Timely follow-up care is essential to reducing avoidable harms such as adverse drug events, yet may be unattainable for patients who lack attachment to a primary care provider. Transitional care clinics (TCCs) have been proposed as a measure to improve health outcomes for patients discharged from hospital without an established provider. In this systematic review, we compared outcomes for unattached patients seen in TCCs after hospital discharge relative to care as usual. METHODS: We searched the following bibliographic databases for articles published on or before August 12, 2022: MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. Five studies were identified that examined the effects of a dedicated postdischarge clinic on emergency department (ED) visits, readmissions, and/or mortality within 90 days of discharge for patients with no attachment to a primary care provider. RESULTS: Studies were heterogeneous in design and quality; all were from urban centers within the United States. Four of the five studies reported a reduction in either the number of ED visits or readmissions in patients seen in a TCC following hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: TCCs may be effective in reducing hospital contacts in the period following hospital discharge in patients with no established primary care provider. Further studies are required to evaluate the health benefits attributable to the implementation of TCCs across a broad range of practice contexts, as well as the cost implications of this model.
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Dmitriew et al. (2024) conducted a systematic review in Patients discharged from hospital without a primary care provider. Transitional care clinics (TCCs) vs. Care as usual was evaluated on Emergency department (ED) visits, readmissions, and/or mortality within 90 days of discharge. Transitional care clinics reduced the number of emergency department visits or readmissions in four out of five studies of patients discharged without a primary care provider.
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