The national Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute has awarded the UConn Center on Aging and the School of Medicine at UConn Health more than $6 million in research funding to study cognitively vulnerable older adults living in their own home who have one or more of the ‘3Ds’: dementia, depression, or delirium.
The study will test the impact new 3D home-based clinical care teams may have to improve health-related outcomes of older adults living with cognitive vulnerability. These multidisciplinary care teams will be led and guided by nurse practitioners with specialized geriatrics expertise.
The study will enroll and follow for 12 months 760 adults in Connecticut who are 65 and older and are living at home. All study participants will be enrollees in the Medicare Advantage insurance plan administered by project partner ConnectiCare Inc. Half of the study participants will receive 3D team home care, and half will receive standard care.
Researchers will track the potential benefits of 3D care teams on patient-specific outcomes such as reducing hospitalization, emergency room visits, depression, disability, and increases in quality of life. Family caregivers’ well-being, depression, and burden will also be measured.
