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NORC at the University Chicago

STEADI Fall Prevention Evaluation

A young physiotherapist exercising with senior patient in a physic room
Assessing the cost-effectiveness and adherence of a fall prevention program in primary care settings
  • Client
    Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
  • Dates
    September 2017 - Present

Problem

Falls among are older adults are prevalent and costly.

One in four older adults (aged 65 years and over) report falling every year in the United States, resulting in preventable injuries and deaths and costing the US economy over $50 billion annually. To address the issue of falls, CDC developed a clinical fall prevention initiative called STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths and Injuries). STEADI is a suite of materials intended to help healthcare providers implement the clinical practice guidelines for fall prevention among older adults.

While STEADI is based on evidence-based fall prevention interventions, there have been no large-scale efforts to evaluate the health benefits and cost effectiveness of STEADI as an intervention as we push to support wide-scale adoption of STEADI.

Solution

NORC developed an evaluation plan to determine the cost effectiveness of the STEADI fall prevention program’s different components.

NORC partnered with Emory University to experimentally implement STEADI via telemedicine using a randomized quality improvement trial design.  The design compared patients who received STEADI to a standard of care control group. It collected process measures using a dedicated intervention information system, and collected outcome and cost measures using electronic health records, administrative payment claims, and repeated waves of patient surveys. NORC’s evaluation plan is designed to understand STEADI’s effect on falls outcomes and costs as compared to no intervention. Cost-effectiveness analyses seek to assess the relative dollar value of the fall prevention program in terms of cost per fall prevented and other key outcomes.

Result

NORC is continuing cost effectiveness analyses of the STEADI fall prevention program and generating multiple peer-reviewed articles. 

The project resulted in four manuscripts, three of which which are in the process of clearance and peer review.  They will be added to this page when published.  The Study Protocol Paper was published in March, 2024, and can be accessed at this site.

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