Acute Hospital Care at Home for People Living With Dementia
Skipping the Hospital: Acute Hospital Care at Home for People Living With Dementia
2 other identifiers
interventional
200
1 country
1
Brief Summary
The investigators will perform a parallel-group multicenter randomized controlled trial of a 1-year pre-enrolled acute hospital care at home intervention vs usual care for people living with dementia. Patients will be randomized only after eligibility determination and after the family caregiver agrees to enroll; people living with dementia will assent when able. Patients will be allocated in a concealed fashion to the control and intervention groups in randomly selected block sizes of 4 or 6 in 4 strata reflecting their functional status (activities of daily living: 0, 1, 2-3, 4-6). Although family and clinicians cannot be blinded, the investigators will blind the data collectors and assessors.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P75+ for not_applicable
Started Apr 2026
Typical duration for not_applicable
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
First Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
February 5, 2025
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
February 11, 2025
CompletedStudy Start
First participant enrolled
April 1, 2026
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
May 1, 2028
ExpectedStudy Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
May 1, 2028
March 17, 2026
March 1, 2026
2.1 years
February 5, 2025
March 16, 2026
Conditions
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (1)
Number of days at home
Sum of the number of days spent at home within the 30-days after an acute care episode
Discharge to 30-days post discharge, up to 30 days
Secondary Outcomes (4)
30-day unplanned readmission or mortality
Discharge to 30-days post discharge, up to 30 days
Delirium
Date of admission to date of discharge, estimated 5 days
Health-related quality of life
From enrollment for the period of one year
Physical activity
Date of admission to date of discharge, estimated 5 days
Study Arms (2)
Usual care
ACTIVE COMPARATORAcute care at a brick-and-mortar hospital.
Acute hospital care at home
EXPERIMENTALHome visit for a serious illness conversation. Acute illness evaluation on demand. Acute hospital care at home as needed.
Interventions
Home visit for a serious illness conversation. Acute illness evaluation on demand. Acute hospital care at home as needed.
Standard acute and emergency care delivered in a brick-and-mortar hospital setting.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- Diagnosis of moderate or severe dementia (as ascertained by the Quick Dementia Rating System; QDRS)
- Resides in a private or assisted living residence with or nearby (\<15min travel time) to a family caregiver
- Resides within the Mass General Brigham (MGB) home hospital catchment area
- Has had at least 1 hospitalization in the last 12 months.
You may not qualify if:
- No functioning utilities, such as no working heat (October-April), no running water, or no electricity.
- Resides in skilled nursing facility
- Resides in group home
- Domestic violence screen positive
- In police custody
- Family caregiver unable to initiate or maintain communication with care team
- End-stage renal disease on hemodialysis
- On methadone requiring daily pickup of medication
- Active substance use disorder, without functioning treatment plan
- Psychiatric diagnosis that would prohibit successful home hospital care
- Acute delirium without explanation or without the ability to manage at home
- Patients with cancer requiring consistent hospital-based treatments
- Cannot ambulate to bedside commode with assistance present in the home (if different from baseline), unless home-based aides are available
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
- Brigham and Women's Hospitallead
- National Institute on Aging (NIA)collaborator
Study Sites (1)
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, 02120, United States
MeSH Terms
Conditions
Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Central Study Contacts
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- DOUBLE
- Who Masked
- INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
- Masking Details
- Data collectors
- Purpose
- TREATMENT
- Intervention Model
- PARALLEL
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- PI Title
- Associate Physician
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
February 5, 2025
First Posted
February 11, 2025
Study Start
April 1, 2026
Primary Completion (Estimated)
May 1, 2028
Study Completion (Estimated)
May 1, 2028
Last Updated
March 17, 2026
Record last verified: 2026-03
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will not share