title: Quality of Care Provided by a Comprehensive Dementia Care Comanagement Program.
abstract: Multiple studies have shown that quality of care for dementia in primary care is poor, with physician adherence to dementia quality indicators (QIs) ranging from 18% to 42%. In response, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Health System created the UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care (ADC) Program, a quality improvement program that uses a comanagement model with nurse practitioner dementia care managers (DCM) working with primary care physicians and community-based organizations to provide comprehensive dementia care. The objective was to measure the quality of dementia care that nurse practitioner DCMs provide using the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE-3) and Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement QIs. Participants included 797 community-dwelling adults with dementia referred to the UCLA ADC program over a 2-year period. UCLA is an urban academic medical center with primarily fee-for-service reimbursement. The percentage of recommended care received for 17 dementia QIs was measured. The primary outcome was aggregate quality of care for the UCLA ADC cohort, calculated as the total number of recommended care processes received divided by the total number of eligible quality indicators. Secondary outcomes included aggregate quality of care in three domains of dementia care: assessment and screening (7 QIs), treatment (6 QIs), and counseling (4 QIs). QIs were abstracted from DCM notes over a 3-month period from date of initial assessment. Individuals were eligible for 9,895 QIs, of which 92% were passed. Overall pass rates of DCMs were similar (90-96%). All counseling and assessment QIs had pass rates greater than 80%, with most exceeding 90%. Wider variation in adherence was found among QIs addressing treatments for dementia, which patient-specific criteria triggered, ranging from 27% for discontinuation of medications associated with mental status changes to 86% for discussion about acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Comprehensive dementia care comanagement with a nurse practitioner can result in high quality of care for dementia, especially for assessment, screening, and counseling. The effect on treatment QIs is more variable but higher than previous reports of physician-provided dementia care.
authors.affiliation: Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Lee A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Jennings
authors.affiliation: Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Zaldy
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Neil S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Wenger
authors.affiliation: Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Erin A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Weijuan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Heather E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: McCreath
authors.affiliation: Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Katherine S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.affiliation: RAND Health, Santa Monica, California.
authors.forename: Carol P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.affiliation: Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Reuben
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000628:therapy*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D003191:Comprehensive Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D000070516:Intersectoral Collaboration; D015141:Los Angeles; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000458:organization & administration; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*
keywords: care management; dementia; nurse practitioner; primary care; quality of care