Integrating Care After Exacerbation of COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations are common among Veterans admitted to hospital, lead to worsening health-related quality of life, and are important drivers of health care expenditures. As many as half of patients discharged for COPD are readmitted within 6 months. An intervention to improve COPD care is needed, not only to treat patients for COPD and their accompanying comorbidities, but also to redesign the care delivery system. The goal of this clinical trial is to test an intervention to improve patient care during the transition from hospital to outpatient setting for patients discharged for COPD. The investigators are targeting the intervention to Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) providers who are randomized to receive the intervention or not receive the intervention. For the intervention, study clinicians, consisting of experienced primary care providers and pulmonary specialists, reviewed the medical record for each patient discharged from hospital for COPD. The team looked for gaps in care for COPD and key co-morbidities such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. They focused on immediate care processes associated with the hospital admission and comorbid disease treatment. For providers in the intervention group, the team placed any patient care recommendations into the medical record using a non-visit consult note and pre-filled order sets. The patient's provider then accepted, modified, or declined any or all of the recommendations based on personal knowledge of the patient's history. The investigators hypothesize that the intervention will: 1) improve patient quality of life; and 2) decrease hospital readmission and mortality after hospital admission for COPD exacerbation.