Re-Engineered Discharge for Diabetes Care Transitions

Purpose

The goal of this project is to test a novel bedside SDOH screening intervention coupled with post-discharge navigation for hospitalized patients with a diabetes diagnosis to reduce unmet social needs, compared to usual care.

Conditions

  • Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
  • Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)
  • Hospital Readmission

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Over 18 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  • adult aged 18 years or older - diagnosed with type 2 diabetes - hospitalized at Univ of Massachusetts-affiliated hospital - endorsed at least 1 unmet social need via screening survey

Exclusion Criteria

  • pregnancy - discharge to short or long-term nursing facility or hospital - medical contraindication - cognitive impairment - unable to provide informed consent

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose
Prevention
Masking
None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Other
Control 		Treatment as usual (TAU)
  • Other: Treatment as Usual (TAU)
    TAU participants will receive standard care from the UMass Memorial Healthcare (UMMH) hospitalist team as appropriate. Participants will receive a printed list of community resources. No study-related patient navigation support will be provided. In 2024, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services mandated social determinants of health (SDOH) screening for inpatients. UMMH will use a checklist social needs screener. It will be up to the hospitalist teams to act on SDOH screening results. The UMMH hospitalist teams may consult endocrinology and/or inpatient social services to provide support and consultation for all patients regardless of study participation or group assignment. If medically appropriate, the endocrinology service may manage medications and provide referrals for continued treatment post discharge. All services that are normally provided by hospital care teams will remain available.
Experimental
Intervention 		REDDCAT2 Intervention
  • Behavioral: REDDCAT2 Post-Discharge Navigation
    Those in the REDDCAT2 intervention group will be partnered with a patient navigator whose role will be to review the results of the screening survey completed at the beginning of the study. The patient navigator will help coordinate the participant's care before leaving the hospital and for 90 days after. Together, the participant and navigator will form an action plan intended to help address personal, social, or community factors affecting the participant's health. The navigator is expected to contact the participant every 2 weeks, though this can be adjusted based on their preference.

Recruiting Locations

UMASS Memorial Healthcare System
Worcester, Massachusetts 01665
Contact:
Suzanne Mitchell
774-442-3748
REDDCAT2@umassmed.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
University of Massachusetts, Worcester

Study Contact

Suzanne Mitchell, MD, MS
774-441-6225
Suzanne.Mitchell2@umassmed.edu

Detailed Description

The investigators are conducting this research to test a computer-based screening tool and a care coordination protocol to help people with type 2 diabetes who report unmet social determinants of health. Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. - Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Examples of SDOH include factors such as housing, transportation, education, job opportunities, income, and access to healthy food, clean air and water, and health care services. Participants who join this research will be asked to complete a screening survey about their health. Then, participants will be randomly assigned (like pulling a name out of a hat) to one of two groups: - Those in Group 1 will be partnered with a patient navigator whose role will be to review the results of the screening survey and help coordinate care before leaving the hospital and for 90 days after. - Those in Group 2 will receive treatment as usual. A list of community-based resources will be provided. Participants in both groups will complete surveys at the beginning of the study and again at 30 and 90 days after leaving the hospital. The investigators will make reminder calls to participants in both groups about data collection and will collect information from the medical record for as long as 90 days after leaving the hospital.