A Novel Collaborative Care Program to Augment Nursing Home Care During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The paper reports program use and staff perceptions, not patient outcomes such as transfers, deaths, length of stay, or complications. No comparison group was used, so changes in transfer rates cannot be attributed to the program. Several services were delivered together, including virtual specialist consults, nurse navigator coordination, laboratory and imaging access, and webinars, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. Uptake was very uneven, with most requests coming from a small number of homes, so the results may not apply to homes that did not engage. The primary care provider survey response rate was low, so satisfaction may not represent all users. Some components were introduced before full refinement because of pandemic urgency, and visitor restrictions and staffing shortages limited engagement. The model relies on in-kind resources and pandemic-era billing codes, so sustainability is uncertain.

No funding or conflict-of-interest declaration is provided in the supplied text. The article notes reliance on in-kind resources from hospitals, nursing homes, and community providers, and says program funding needs to be addressed.

Do not conclude that LTC+ reduces unnecessary hospital transfers or improves resident outcomes. The authors state that evaluating transfers or deaths was premature, and the 46% figure is clinician perception, not measured transfer avoidance.