A comprehensive assessment of older adults being seen in the emergency department can help reduce hospital admissions, according to a study published online Aug. 21 in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Julia Adler-Milstein, Ph.D., from the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues conducted a quasi-experimental study of older adults to assess whether an emergency department modified comprehensive geriatric assessment (mCGA) was associated with lower hospital admissions without negative unintended consequences. The analysis included 1,119 emergency department visits among patients aged 65 years and older who received the mCGA and 1,612 who did not.

The researchers found that those who received the mCGA had an 11.6% lower likelihood of inpatient admission. There was no significant association seen between the mCGA and emergency department length of stay or revisits within 72 hours or 30 days of discharge.

“We were encouraged to see that patients were able to receive the benefits of the intervention without experiencing longer emergency department length of stays or higher emergency department revisits,” lead author Nida F. Degesys, M.D., also from the University of California, San Francisco, said in a statement. “With this evidence-based intervention led by our expert team in the emergency department, we can be more mindful and conscientious of the care we provide for each patient.”

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