Transition care – how useful?
Transition care is a relatively new program to Australia that is designed to facilitate transitions of frail older people between the hospital and aged care systems. This program is designed to deliver potentially important improvements to the Australian health care system – but will it deliver?
Len C Gray, Catherine M Travers, Helen P Bartlett, Maria Crotty and Ian D Cameron have examined its use in Australia, and reported it in the Medical Journal of Australia.
They report that the current evidence base regarding the efficacy of this type of program is mixed, and there is little evidence to indicate improved patient outcomes.
An average transition care episode is expensive (about $11 000). Therefore, careful consideration of the relative cost-effectiveness compared with other interface programs such as inpatient subacute services is essential.
Transition care services should be established within the context of overall regional plans for aged care, incorporating hospital acute and subacute inpatient services, and long-term community and residential care programs.