Grave safety concerns and deaths have forced the cancellation of part of a national study by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The trial, known as the BREATH study, was aimed at reducing COPD-related hospital readmissions by providing veterans with education and other disease management support. However, it was cancelled suddenly due to safety concerns that researchers and VA officials wouldn't discuss publicly.
"When I asked what kind of safety concerns, [trial co-chair Dennis Niewoehner] said, 'The worst safety concerns.' And the worst one I can think of is death," Richard Robbins, chief of pulmonary and critical care at Phoenix VA Healthcare System, and one of the study's investigators, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Meanwhile, physicians across the country say their affiliated hospitals don't provide them with enough training and resources to prevent readmissions of patients with COPD, heart failure, pneumonia, coronary artery disease and psychiatric illness, a new study finds.
The Society of Hospital Medicine is reporting that nearly three-fourths of the 1,013 clinicians it surveyed said their organizations' tactics for preventing readmissions among high-risk patient populations are lacking.
More than half (54 percent) said their organizations should provide better training and educational opportunities aimed at reducing readmissions, such as post-discharge follow-up care, condition-specific interventions and discharge communication.
"We need to optimize care in the hospital, of course, but we also need to educate patients and caregivers about their condition, ensure that pending tests and studies are completed, and then get those results into the hands of the patient's primary care provider," said lead investigator Mark V. Williams, professor and chief of the division of hospital medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
But Niewoehner, the co-chair of the VA BREATH study, has urged caution with regard to COPD disease management programs.
"If someone were to start a disease management program, I would suggest they probably not do it just yet, until the information is available," he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
For more information:
- read the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review exclusive report
- read this Boston Business Journal article