Integration of Inpatient and Residential Care In-Reach Service Model and Hospital Resource Utilization: A Retrospective Audit.

This was a before-and-after audit, not a randomised trial, so it cannot prove the redesign caused the changes. Several service changes happened together: a consistent consultant geriatrician, a co-located residential aged-care liaison nurse, and stakeholder engagement, so the study cannot separate their contributions. The study did not measure how residents felt, their function, symptoms, or satisfaction, only service use and costs. Other factors such as general practitioner practices, nursing skill mix, resident frailty, and catchment changes were not controlled. Some comparisons had small numbers, and findings from one hospital catchment may not apply elsewhere. The analysis assumed full occupancy of residential aged-care beds.

Do not read the reduced emergency visits and costs as proof that the redesign caused them. This was a before-and-after audit without randomisation or controls, and the service changes were bundled, so other factors could explain the pattern.