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A personalized, hands-on care strategy for patients struggling with addiction was effective at reducing hospital readmission, a randomized trial found.
In a comparison of hospitalized adults with substance use disorder involving opioids, cocaine, or alcohol, those who received Navigation Services to Avoid Rehospitalization (NavSTAR) care saw far better outcomes than those who simply received treatment as usual, according to Jan Gryczynski, PhD, of the Friends Research Institute in Baltimore, and colleagues.
Patients who received this elevated care saw 26% lower rates of inpatient admissions during a 12-month observation period (HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.58-0.96,
P=0.020), the group wrote in the
This equated to 6.05 inpatient admissions per 1,000 person-days for those who had NavSTAR care versus 8.13 admissions per 1,000 person-days for the treatment-as-usual group.